


House Hunting

by Daily



Series: A bond of family [27]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bromance, Cockroaches, Conversations, Family, Fighting, First Kiss, Freedom, Friendship, Gen, House Hunting, Scars, Tickling, Torture, Violence, protecting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-12-04
Packaged: 2018-01-03 01:28:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 29,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1064058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daily/pseuds/Daily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the Christmas break Harry, Sirius and Remus go on a house hunt, but nothing is ever simple for those three as they run into trouble. Direct sequel to Taking Control.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. House Hunting chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. If I did Sirius and Remus among other characters would have never died and there would be a lot more fluff and bromance.  
> Special thanks to Kitty for her throwing ideas at me and discussing HP with me that lead to me writing this. And for her help with flushing out grammatical errors and other small changes.  
> Thank you!  
> Warnings: Mention of abuse and strong torture. Strong Bromance. Hugging…can't handle grown men hugging…don't read it. Mentioned kissing, lots of affection and a LOT of talking. Powerful Sirius.  
> Warning for fighting and stronger language in second chapter.  
> No pairing other than strong friendship.  
> This is NOT a slash story between Harry and Sirius, only a strong family bond.

The soft tapping on the window was what woke Harry up. He sleepily reached for the wand laying on the night-stand and murmured "Alohomora" before dropping it back and pushing a few coins forward before turning around onto his left side, curling up against the warm presence beside him.

He felt a pair of arms pull him closer and snuggle against him.

Harry smiled as he rested his head against Sirius' chest and shifted slightly so he could look up to Sirius' face. His godfathers face was relaxed in sleep, his fringe falling over his closed eyes.

Even in sleep his hair retained a state of order that never ceased to amaze Harry since the man barely paid any attention to it while awake either. Where Harry's hair was a natural mess, Sirius' naturally fell into a certain shape no matter how much Remus ruffled through it in an attempt to mess it up, which never ceased to make Sirius laugh.

Harry had always thought that Sirius must have spend an incredibly amount of time on his hair to get it to look like it did, but the shocking truth was that the man barely spend a minute before the mirror after having brushed his teeth and shaved.

It probably also helped that Harry had learned that unless Sirius was caught in a heavy nightmare he barely moved in his sleep at all. It gave Harry a good indication on how to act around the older man in the following morning.

If Sirius had woken up from a nightmare he was disorientated and jumpy for a while and Harry had learned not to move silently like he was used to with the Dursleys but like Remus he learned to make as much noise as humanly possible without being obvious about it so that Sirius was constantly aware they were there and where they were.

Though Sirius hadn't shown any sign of being aware of their actions it was clear he knew about it when they both found small chocolate treats in their path without any sign of how they got there on such occasions.

Harry was overall just happy that Sirius was doing a lot better though. Remus had confided in him that Sirius usually slept as Padfoot because it made him feel safer during the night.

Since he'd taken to sleep on Harry's bed edge he turned back into a human in his sleep more and more often.

The first time it had happened Harry had gotten the fright of his life as Sirius had snuggled up to him in his sleep.

Remus had spend the majority of the day laughing when he had learned of what had happened and in turn Harry had learned more about his godfather, including his snuggle tendencies towards those he trusted.

Apparently Sirius had often fallen asleep against Harry's parents too while they were watching television and Lily had described him as an incredibly affectionate pet as he curled up all around her on their luxury couch when asleep, very much like his canine Animagus form would do.

The next time Harry had been awoken by a pair of arms slipping around his waist he hadn't been as startled and instead had let Sirius curl up around him and eventually he started to snuggle back as it happened more and more often.

He knew that if it had been anyone else he probably wouldn't have even thought about sharing a bed, let alone snuggle up with another person like he did with Sirius. But he also knew that Sirius was different from anyone else. Harry was rarely uncomfortable around his godfather, nor did he mind his frequent touches that Sirius seemed to shower him with unconsciously.

It was something Harry felt privileged to see in the man he cared deeply for.

Remus had told many stories about his parents but also small things about his godfather. About how much Sirius was truly like Padfoot, affectionate, cuddly and protective towards those he loved. Just like a dog, though he acted more like a big cat when cuddling.

Harry had always thought he knew Sirius relatively well for the short time they've known each other.

But he couldn't have been more wrong.

The impression of Sirius that he had formed over the last two years hadn't been completely wrong, but it was everything but right.

As they spent more and more time together Sirius slowly let down his guard around him, something Harry was pretty sure the other man wasn't even aware of having pulled up around him.

Seeing him so relaxed in sleep now made Harry feel warm from the inside. For no matter how protective Sirius was of him, during the night Harry could give his godfather a sense of safety. Enough to actually have him curl up around him in human form.

Which had worried Harry about how Sirius would sleep when he returned to Hogwarts and he had quietly voiced that worry to Remus one day, only to have the other man reassure him that Sirius wouldn't be on his own with an amused voice.

Which had somewhat confused Harry until he had walked into the room on one occasion to find the two men curled up together asleep on the couch with the television softly playing in front of them, looking very much like a couple of canines.

Which, as Harry thought about it, fitted well with their alter egos and he had fun imagining Moony and Padfoot like that after a full moon playing around.

Harry was happy his godfather and uncle, as Sirius had introduced Remus to the hotel owners upon arriving, were completely comfortable around each other and happy he wasn't the only one on the receiving end of Sirius' affection.

Though Remus wasn't as displayable with his affection as Sirius was, something Harry was sure had to do with his own nature, he never shrunk away when Sirius had one of his affectionate moods and often initiated affectionate behaviour towards Sirius too and on occasion he even briefly pulled Harry into a hug when the situation was right for it.

It made Harry happy to know Remus was getting more comfortable around him, though much slower than Sirius.

But he was also a little relieved that Remus was a bit more reserved because it gave him the chance to become completely used to Sirius´ affectionate nature without being overwhelmed by the two of them.

A slight movement had Harry tensing as Sirius shifted a little but he didn't wake up and Harry relaxed again. He didn't want the other man to wake up yet, he was comfortable and warm and although he knew Sirius would happily cuddle with him when awake it was somewhat different.

Awake Sirius maintained a small distance as much as he could be aware of, being a bit more on guard with his emotions to not overwhelm Harry. Giving him more distance when he even thought he sensed the smallest discomfort in Harry's posture. In sleep Sirius didn't have that guard around him, didn't spend every single moment trying to be what Harry needed him to be.

And Harry rather liked him like this; it gave him an idea of how Sirius was before the years in Azkaban had robbed him of so much.

"Harry?"

Harry raised his face once more as Sirius let out a yawn as he slowly uncurled himself from Harry and stretched.

"Morning Siri," Harry smiled.

"Morning sunshine. May I ask why there is a creepy owl staring at me creepily like I stole his last treat?"

Harry blinked at the words and glanced at the blurry owl sitting on the bed edge as Sirius finally untangled himself completely to sit up.

"I thought it was the Prophet owl and didn't pay it more attention other than to let it in."

"Doesn't that one usually wake Remus up?"

"He does when we aren't on vacation; I put our subscription on hold during the vacation. You two sleepy heads have slept a hole into the day," Remus' voice greeted them as he entered their bedroom.

Sirius glanced at the window. "It can't be much later than eight," he said as Harry put his glasses on to glance out of the window too while sitting up.

"Are you going to ignore that poor owl much longer?" Remus asked with a smile as the bird flapped his wings and landed on Sirius' left shoulder, making the man wince slightly as the owl's claws flexed around him.

"All right, give up your letter so you can take those sharp ends somewhere else," Sirius grumbled as he fumbled to get the letter that was attached to the owl's feet.

The moment Sirius had the letter lose the owl took off again, but not before making Sirius yelp out in pain as his claws slashed into his shoulder.

Remus immediately grabbed a towel from the attached bathroom and sat down on the bed besides Sirius to press the towel against the bleeding wounds on his shoulder.

"Stupid bird," Sirius hissed as Remus applied pressure.

"I've never seen a post owl act so rudely," Harry noted as he looked at Sirius´ shoulder. "Those look pretty deep."

Sirius snorted, "You should have seen the marks you mothers old owl left behind."

"My mother owned an Owl?"

"Yes, an owl that was truly the incarnation of evil itself. Completely black with a gaze that frightened everyone. She called him Precious. We called him Monster," Remus said.

"How and when did mum get it?"

Remus looked at Sirius. "Was it in third year?" he asked.

"Fourth. Monster would deliver letters to her before staring at James till he got so nervous he knocked something over," Sirius smiled. "Later she told us she got him because no one else ever bought him. That he so totally stared down James was an added benefit."

"He absolutely adored Sirius though. Often moving from Lily to his shoulder and staying there no matter how often both of them tried to shoo him."

"What is it with you and animals? Buckbeak accepted you without you ever bowing to him. Crookshanks loves you as does Hedwig."

"It is my natural charm," Sirius dryly answered, making Harry snort and Remus sigh.

"As much as I would like to deny it, it is actually true. James confessed in sixth year that while being Prongs he was instinctively drawn to Sirius. Care of Magical Creatures was always fun with him too. We originally split all subjects between the four of us so we'd not miss anything. But James told me so many stories about Care that I decided to add the subject out of pure curiosity."

"You split the classes?"

"Yes, so that each of us at least had one companion in class to share notes with and to explain to the others."

"Which classes did you all take?"

Remus thought for a moment. "I took Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures and Study of Ancient Runes. James took Divination till sixth year, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. He took up Muggle Studies after dropping Divination. I can't even remember all the subjects you took," Remus directed to Sirius who laughed.

"Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Ghoul Studies, Art and Care of Magical Creatures."

"Ghoul Studies and Art? I have never heard of those."

"They stopped giving those shortly after we graduated I think. It was an optional class but I didn't see it on the subject list when I taught in your third year. The classroom is on the Marauder map because Sirius followed the class. You can check it out some time."

"I will, but what is it?"

"It was a class that taught about all sorts of ghosts, poltergeists, veelas, ghouls and the likes. It was pretty interesting to follow for a year or so actually as it taught you how they came to exist, how to defend against them and stuff like that. I dropped it after getting my OWL for it though."

"And Art?"

"Also an extra-curricular subject. It deals with learning about all sorts of art, photography, painting and stuff like that. I occasionally sat in on Muggle Art too if I had the time and preferred it to its Magical counterpart," Sirius smiled before continuing.

"Your mother took Divination, Arithmancy and Care. But she too dropped Divination in sixth year. It was the one thing she and your dad agreed on publicly. Divination is useless."

"So they didn't believe in the prophecy?" Harry asked, happy to learn something more about his family.

Sirius shrugged. "It didn't matter what they thought. If Voldemort believed it then it was enough to put you in danger."

"And you? You never mentioned taking Divination. Did you believe in it?"

"No. I never cared for Divination, it is all a big pile of guessing and I sure as hell am not going to let you do the fighting just because someone predicted you would have to fight Riddle."

"Same for me. Though I never took it because I was afraid I would be singled out due to my Lycanthropy and the professor would out me in the middle of class. But I don't really believe in it either."

Harry smiled at the two men.

"Thanks. Though I'd rather prefer it if you two stayed safe. I have to admit I am curious to why you split the classes and Sirius took so many. Did you not know what you wanted to do?"

Remus chuckled. "Oh no. We knew exactly what we wanted. It was more out of practicality. James and Sirius wanted to take every NEWT but without being overwhelmed in homework and since you don't actually have to sit in the classes to take the exam we decided to split the classes and share the knowledge learned between us."

"But Sirius took almost all the classes and extra subjects. He took thirteen subjects. Hermione took twelve in third year and she got close to insanity due to the work pressure."

"Didn't she use a time turner?" Remus asked, clearly trying to rack his brain for the information.

"Yes. Did Sirius have one too?"

"No, they didn't exist yet in our school time as far as I know and even if they did I wouldn't have wanted one. I worked out a schedule with every teacher. Skipped classes on mutual agreement if they fell together and took the notes from James and Remus on the subject I'd missed due to overlapped classes. On the rare occasion I didn't understand something from their notes they could explain it to me or I held a meeting with the teacher after dinner."

"Weren't you totally overworked anyway? Hermione was. And she didn't even pull pranks like you did."

Sirius laughed. "No, though it was a lot of essays to write we got by easily enough. It annoyed McGonagall to no ends that even with so many classes between us we still pulled loads of pranks."

"Which only got a lot more advanced as we shared knowledge of our new classes. She had hoped that when she signed off on his classes it would occupy all of his time and keep us from playing pranks. Not only did she fail in that but both your father and Sirius aced every OWL and NEWT they sat for with the highest possible scores while still playing pranks."

"You two truly were extraordinary bright weren't you?" Harry was awed. He would never be able to ace all of his OWLs like they had done.

"It helped that we knew how to use our brain, but we did put effort in every class we took, did our research and through our prank research we learned a lot too," Sirius said with a shrug and Harry smiled at Sirius' admittance that he worked hard for his scores.

"So If I work hard and put in the effort…"

"Then you shouldn't really have trouble with the subjects and if you do despite the effort then it is just not the subject for you to take and you should drop it before it makes you miserable." Sirius answered simply. "I especially had fun in Muggle Studies, it was horribly outdated and I learned more through Remus and the other students than through the class but it was interesting to see all the various things Muggles invented."

"Well, you did a whole lot better navigating the train and buses on the way here than Mister Weasley ever did, and he's Muggle obsessed."

Sirius chuckled. "I like the train and especially the underground. James and I spend hours travelling everywhere during the summer of sixth year and we'd often drag Remus along with us to explain the things we didn't understand."

"You make it sound like I minded. My mother was a Muggle so she taught me everything Muggle related from a young age, wanting me to see things from both worlds. But to see the things I took for granted and natural through the eyes of two pure bloods was very interesting. They viewed things so differently than I did."

"You sound like Hermione," Harry laughed as Remus childishly stuck out his tongue.

"You should have seen him with the Unicorn. Becoming all annalistic about the poor thing."

"What happened with the unicorn?"

"You know how boys have to stay at a distance right? Okay, we were at a distance and James and Sirius were chatting quietly together out of boredom when the adult unicorn broke free from the girls and walked straight to Sirius who automatically reached out a hand to pet her. Which to the shock of everyone there he could do without a problem."

"While you were a teenager and the unicorn an adult?"

Sirius nodded. "Surprised everyone, including me. Professor Kettleburn was absolutely convinced I had some magical creature blood in my blood, actually demanded for that to be tested by Slughorn."

"And?"

"Absolutely nothing. He was one hundred percent human. There was nothing in his DNA that indicated why animals were so attracted to him. Professor Kettleburn forever moved him in front of all sorts of creatures to see their reaction to him. It was quite funny sometimes. Though not always. Remember those Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest?" Remus asked.

Sirius shuddered. "I rather try not to remember. Those gave me new fuel for nightmares for weeks."

"You met Aragog and his children?"

"That thing has a name?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, he was Hagrid's pet when he was still at Hogwarts."

"Why am I even surprised about that," Remus sighed.

"Because even we wouldn't have imagined Hagrid to take a human flesh eating gigantic spider as a pet and keep him in an area where hundreds of children are," Sirius said with another shudder.

Sirius glanced down at the envelope he still held in his hand and raised his hand to open it, only to wince as it pulled on his shoulder.

"Stupid Owl."

"All right, take your shirt off," Remus ordered.

"Why Moony, I didn't know you wanted to see me…"

"Just take the shirt off Padfoot," Remus interrupted Sirius, slapping him on the head with the towel previously held against his arm.

Harry grinned at them before his eyes fell on the towel, which was rather soaked through with blood.

Sirius pouted and stuck out his tongue before slipping out of his pyjama top.

Harry's gaze automatically shifted from the bloodied towel to his godfather's bare upper half, although bare wasn't what had caught his attention as most of the skin visible to Harry was covered in deep scars of various sizes.

He hardly noticed Remus leaving the bed to grab the first aid kit and a wet cloth before returning.

"Harry?" Sirius asked, a note of worry and apprehension in his voice as he shifted slightly to face his godson.

Harry shifted his gaze up to Sirius' face. "Sorry…I was just wondering…"

"About how I got those?" Sirius asked softly.

"No…well, that too, but mostly why you don't have any tattoos."

"Tattoos?" Sirius questioned curiously and confused.

"Yeah. Muggle inmates often get tattoos in jail and though you were innocent I thought you might have some too."

Sirius stared at Harry for a few moments, his expression guarded before he shuddered violently.

"That's one terrifying thought," he finally said after he managed to control the shuddering.

"How so?"

"Imagine Dementors painting everlasting pictures of a bunny or so on a prisoner's skin."

Harry smiled weakly though Sirius shuddered again; even more violent now and Remus had to put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"The mere idea of those things coming that close…" he trailed off as he paled. "Prisoners are locked in their cells twenty four hours a day. No contact with one another outside hearing each other scream."

He thought for a moment. "Well, we see Fudge once a year and the guards occasionally passed by if they were bored but other than that there is no contact as the Dementors don't actually enter the cells themselves without orders."

"You basically spend twelve years confined in solitude with only your worst memories as company," Harry more stated than asked and he felt a sudden urge arise to hug his godfather tightly.

He knew the Dementors brought up the worst memories you've ever experienced but he had believed the inmates of Azkaban at least got some fresh air like Muggle prisoners did. The mere image of Sirius or Padfoot huddling in a corner, trying to block out the screams around him while being tortured with his worst memories while always being alone and cold brought tears to Harry's eyes.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sirius asked concerned as he wrapped his free arm around Harry, pulling him close into a half hug.

Harry shook his head, not trusting his voice to speak just yet as he simply held onto his godfather tightly for a moment.

"At least he's free now Harry. And once he'll get his trial he will stay that way," Remus said softly, seemingly reading Harry's mind.

"Yeah," Harry agreed with a small smile before his eyes were drawn to one of the many scars on Sirius' torso. It was a long word carved into his flesh, right over his heart and Harry felt bile rise as the meaning of the word registered.

"Who did that?" he asked hoarsely as he shifted back to sitting close to Sirius and brought his index finger up to rest on the scarred word to indicate which one he meant without having to say it.

"Which?...Oh, that one was made by my mother the night before Christmas in fifth year. The night that I ran away from home for good. I have two matching ones on my upper arms that my father made earlier that vacation."

Sirius said it so casually that Harry would have almost believed it to not be a big deal.

Almost.

How could anyone do something like that to their own child?

"Did they use a Quill?" he asked.

"No, just carved the letters in with their wands. Kind of like I did to the toad only they used a lot more force and dark magic to inflict as much pain as they possible could and ensure it wouldn't heal quickly."

Harry nodded, tracing the letters with his fingers; half surprised Sirius let him do so.

"You have matching ones on your arms?" Harry asked softly, shifting his eyes from the terrible scar to Sirius' arms.

"Yeah," Sirius shifted slightly, not enough to disturb Remus in his nursing work but enough so that he could turn his right arm and show Harry the inside of it.

Disgrace. Harry read the word several times but it didn't cease to disturb him any less than the first one had.

"And the third?"

"Freak," Remus answered before Sirius could, partly so he didn't have to move his arm and show him and partly so that Sirius himself didn't have to say it. Harry was sure of that.

"Abomination, disgrace and freak," Harry muttered hoarsely, hating Sirius' parents more and more with every passing moment as he remembered all three of the words having been spit towards Sirius by the portrait of his mother on more than one occasion.

"They didn't have much imagination when it came to insulting me," Sirius said lightly as Remus glanced at him before finishing his work. Harry only now noticed he had bandaged his godfather's shoulder and was about to ask why he hadn't just healed it before remembering they had agreed only to use magic when absolutely necessary to not attract any unwanted attention to themselves during their vacation.

Sirius reached for his shirt and by doing so Harry's gaze was caught on another set of peculiar marks on both sides of Sirius' waist.

"Are those teeth marks?" He asked shocked.

Sirius glanced down before he chuckled. "You sure are curious aren't you?"

But the tone was teasingly and although Harry blushed he knew Sirius wasn't bothered by his questioning.

"Those are from a run in with… Aragog you said his name was? And the ones on the other side were made by Moony in sixth year."

Sirius shifted so his right collarbone was more visibly to Harry and pointed to a deep looking scar that seemed to be in a roundish shape.

"Your dad gave me that one during the first full moon we spend as Animagus. Moony was a bit over eager, he left his teeth here, and James tried to stop my fall. He only forgot he had an impressive set of antlers. It is how he got the nickname Prongs," Sirius smiled at the memory while pointing to a pair of teeth marks half hidden under the bandages.

"I made this one too." Remus said as he tapped a clear bite mark at the back of Sirius' right shoulder, turning Sirius around so that Harry could see it more clearly and Sirius glanced at it too.

"Hm, had James and you in hysterics once you transformed back because you had hit an artery and the two of you couldn't stop the bleeding so fast and I passed out from blood loss before James managed to get enough grip on himself to heal the damage." Sirius chuckled and Remus smiled at the memory as he answered something.

But Harry wasn't really listening to them. When Remus had turned Sirius' body to show the mark on his shoulder Harry's eyes had instead been drawn to the gigantic markings running over his godfathers back.

"Why…why is there a tree carved into your back?" Harry choked out as he reached a shaking hand out to make sure they were real and he wasn't seeing things. But Sirius pulled away this time and Harry let his hand drop, not wanting to force himself upon his godfather.

"They liked the whip," Sirius softly admitted and Harry didn't need any more information to know who they were exactly.

Sirius brightened again after taking a deep breath.

"Although, there is one…I can't really point it out, Rem?"

"Right, this one," Remus cleared his throat and Harry got the impression he too had difficulties to see those specific scars on his friends back despite having to have seen them before.

He pointed to a mark slightly less ugly and deep than the rest. It was also not a straight lined scar like most of the others were. Harry found it mostly looking like a thin branch in the otherwise puckered white scars forming the tree.

"You gave me that one."

Harry finally tore his eyes from the carved tree to stare at Sirius in shock. "I did that? How!"

"You were a little over a year and playing in the garden when your dad got distracted and you got your hands on his broom without us noticing. I came outside because I couldn't see you any more and called your name. Not realizing you were in the sky. You called my name and jumped off your broom, probably not understanding that jumping off you toy broom was a lot different from jumping off a real one. I tripped when diving to catch you in time and pulled my back open on a small rock as we fell."

Harry winced. "Sorry."

"Rather me than you," Sirius shrugged "You got me three more scars in your short life by the way. Want to know which ones?" he asked with such genuine cheer in his voice that Harry chuckled and nodded.

Letting Sirius change the conversation from the scars on his back as he shifted back to facing him and pulled his left knee up while pushing his pyjama pants up to reveal several more scars and a peculiar looking slash on the part of the ankle Harry could see as Sirius held his hand wrapped around the other half.

"Is that…what is that?" Harry asked as he leaned closer to look at what looked a little like a stick figure of a dog with pointy slashes on his head.

"It is a stag, at least that is what you told me. Daddy Prong," Sirius said with a chuckle at Harry's horrified expression.

"I carved an ugly disfigured stag into your ankle? Where'd I get a knife to do so in the first place?"

"You did it with a sharp pencil actually. I didn't even notice you were drawing blood till you started to cry because my blood was running over your pretty picture."

"You didn't…."

"It might be wise to explain that he had just almost gotten his head smashed in after a run in with a couple of dozen Death Eaters, badly damaged his leg, got cursed repeatedly and was covered in multiple layers of bruises. James drugged him up on so many potions while trying to heal him that you could have put him on fire and he probably wouldn't have noticed with how out of it he was. It was highly unlikely he'd feel the sharp pencil a toddler used on him with that amount of potions in his system," Remus commented in Sirius' defence.

"But I drew on him."

"You often did. From the moment you could hold a pencil you drew on me. Often made many people laugh when I showed up at Order meetings with crude flowers or sticky animal figures on my wrists and hands which I claimed I couldn't remove."

"More like you didn't want to remove them because you liked them," Remus accused, making Sirius shrug before he grinned, not denying the accusation.

"You drew a dog on the other side of my ankle and were working on what was supposed to be Moony when you started crying."

"I carved the Marauders into your skin." Harry dead panned and Sirius nodded as he removed his hand and turned his leg so Harry could see the stick figures of a dog and a very hairy dog with a wide tail.

"Moony doesn't have that large a tail or that large a snout."

"You hadn't actually ever seen Moony with your own eyes so you didn't know that a werewolf's tail is thinner and smaller than a normal wolves or their snout shorter. You drew it based upon the wolves in the zoo we took you to see a couple of times," Sirius chuckled.

"How did I even know about Moony in the first place?" Harry was confused. It seemed unlikely that his family would have told him about the werewolf when he was so little.

"You knew about Prongs and me, having seen both of us transform multiple times and learned to call us by our nicknames on those occasions quickly. And being the curious little fellow that you were you asked to see Moony which of course was impossible. We explained that Moony only came out at the full moon and you weren't allowed to see him till you were an Animagus like us. You asked what Moony looked like so we took you to the zoo to show you regular wolves so that you had an idea, even if it wasn't completely accurate," Sirius explained.

Harry nodded, the explanation made sense and he did know he was curious so he must have been even more curious as a little child. He looked at the drawings again and frowned.

"Why does it look finished if you said I started crying while working on it?"

"Because the idiot let you finish it a few days later," Remus said and Sirius laughed at Harry's perplexed expression.

"Your mum had already informed me that it was going to scar and it looked weird to see half a wolf every time I took my socks off. I rather had you finish the entire picture though you refused to draw Wormtail, something I am very happy about now."

"I bet," Harry sighed dryly. "Why couldn't she just heal them?"

"Because I got cursed with dark magic so most of my wounds had to heal the natural way, including your drawings."

"So technically you do have tattoos. They are just a bit crude," Remus suddenly stated.

Harry and Sirius both blinked before Sirius barked out a laugh and Harry stifled a chuckle, not wanting to laugh at the knowledge that he had added a total of four scars to his godfather's immense collection as a mere toddler. It seemed like his whole family had added to it in some way.

"Don't look so down pup. These drawings were often the only thing to keep me going when I felt hopeless in Azkaban and the thought of revenge against Wormtail wasn't enough. And even though the Dementors quickly took the happy memory away, it often gave me a very short relief before I managed to draw enough power to change into Padfoot after a few years. I rather like them a lot. They are my second favourite scars," Sirius smiled softly as his hand brushed over the three scars with a loving expression in his eyes that made Harry smile despite himself.

The thought that he had helped his godfather to hold on during those awful years because of those stupid stick figures made him dislike them a little less. Especially since it was clear that Sirius truly liked them.

"Do I want to know which your favourite is?"

"It is a pretty one that Moony gave me in sixth year. We were outside of Hogsmeade and got into trouble with a pack of wolves. I got hurt and then Moony attacked the wolves that had hurt me before he set his fangs into my shoulder. The wolves left me alone after that."

Sirius smiled at what was obviously a good memory to him but Harry frowned confused.

"He protected you and then bit you?"

"Yes."

Remus chuckled. "Remember what I told you about wolves? They are pack animals and those wolves were threatening my pack. By biting Padfoot like I did I marked him as untouchable. No other pack animal would ever dare to hurt him because it would mean retaliation from me."

"But wouldn't they have gone after dad? He was a stag after all."

"They originally did, Padfoot got hurt while protecting Prongs' back. And since he smelled of blood the wolves were automatically drawn to attack the seemingly weakest of us."

"Shame for them that they didn't count on Moony."

"Did you mark my dad and Peter too?"

Remus shook his head. "Marking Wormtail would have probably ended up in Moony eating him since he was so small."

"Would have saved us a lot of trouble," Sirius grumbled and Remus couldn't suppress a grimace at the clear thought of having eaten Wormtail. Harry bit back a snort as he remembered Sirius living of rats while hiding in the cave and wondered if he had taken any satisfaction in getting to rip rats apart as Padfoot. Sirius caught his expression and winked at him, probably thinking of the same thing if his expression was anything to go by.

Remus cleared his throat and shook his head slightly as if to get rid of the thought, having missed their little exchange.

"Biting Prongs would have marked him as a challenge. Any carnivore would have been driven to try and kill a buck that size, especially if another carnivore had marked him and failed to finish him off."

"And it didn't work like that with Padfoot?"

"No, since a dog that big is not on the natural food chain for carnivores where stags are. By marking Padfoot as basically his it warned other predators to back off. It only works with none-natural prey."

"Marking him as his…you mean like a lover?" Harry asked surprised.

Sirius and Remus looked at one another for a moment before they both burst out laughing.

"It would have been easier if it had been like that," Sirius smiled once he could speak again.

Remus chuckled as he nodded. "It would have been."

"How so?"

"An interested party you can get to back off if you are clear enough. Moony marked Padfoot as his…" Sirius trailed off, searching for the right word for a moment. "Not pup but kind of like it…"

"A baby brother. One to be protected. It wasn't such a problem when I was transformed. Moony was a natural alpha. But the need to protect him was just as overwhelming as myself in the beginning."

"Caused quite a few hilarious and embarrassing situations at Hogwarts. One time he actually growled at Professor McGonagall when she berated me harshly. Only reason he didn't get punished was because he was absolutely mortified once he realized what he'd done and McGonagall thought she understood his reason."

"You growled at your head of house?" Harry asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

"I blamed Sirius."

"I bet. So where is this pretty scar?" Harry asked as he let his eyes travel over Sirius' torso.

His godfather was normally completely dressed and Harry only knew he had any scars at all because he had seen a few when Sirius had unexpectedly baked a cake for his birthday that summer and he had glimpsed some on his lower arms, though he hadn't commented on them back then, sensing the deep scars on his wrist wouldn't be something he'd want to talk about.

Sirius turned his back on Harry again and managed to point to a scar that Harry truthfully didn't really need to have pointed out to him.

As he refused to let his gaze wander back to the carved tree he noticed a couple of other scars that stood out but only one could truly be identified as pretty. The bite marks in Sirius' shoulder looked like three half moon crescents and though they looked like they had been deep, the skin around them wasn't red and damaged like the rest was.

"It looks like three half moons," Harry commented, understanding why Sirius liked this specific scar as he traced it with his fingers for a moment, to Sirius' amusement.

"Yeah."

"Did my parents give you any more scars?" Harry asked, torn between hoping for more stories and hoping they had nothing more to add to the collection.

"Your mum gave me a nasty burn while she tried to cook something special. Though it's mostly faded," Sirius tapped a tiny mark on his right wrist that Harry could indeed barely make out.

"James gave me a couple more, all accidentally of course. Your grandfather gave me this one," Sirius pointing to his left forearm, where a strange mark Harry couldn't completely decipher was revealed.

"What is it?"

"Your family crest. Your grandfather wore the head of house ring and shortly after I'd ran away my parents tried to get me back under their control when they learned that my grandfather had not disinherited me and in fact had me surpass my father as heir to the Black family upon his death. Your grandfather held onto me tightly during that confrontation, too tightly as it was revealed later that his ring had basically been engraved into my arm."

"Bet he was mortified."

"You would win that bet. James thought it was hilarious and said it was proof I was part of the Potter family but your grandfather was devastated. He had sworn to himself that he would never hurt me and although it was accidentally, he felt like he had broken his promise so quickly already after making it."

"Poor grandfather. How did you solve that?"

"I turned his hair and beard into a rainbow for a day."

Harry blinked, processing the worlds before he burst out in laughter.

"I bet he wasn't very happy with that."

"Actually he was. I came over that afternoon for New Year and he cheerfully greeted my parents and me with bright purple hair and a blue beard. Wasn't bothered by it at all. Your grandmother couldn't look at him without laughing for days," Remus said with a chuckle.

"But why was he so happy about it?"

"Because Sirius had dared to prank him in retaliation for hurting him accidentally."

Harry looked at Remus and Sirius confused and Sirius smiled.

"Let's put it this way. Would you ever prank the Dursleys?"

Harry snorted. "No way, they'd skin me alive."

"And Remus and me?"

"If you did something to ask for it then probably yes."

Sirius nodded. "Why would you prank us but not the Dursleys? You haven't really known us all that long."

"Yeah but I trust you guys. You wouldn't hurt me, at least not on purpose."

"Exactly," Remus answered. "Now take that thought and imagine a teenage boy who's been heavily abused his whole life for… well, basically merely breathing. That hurt boy comes to live with you. Would he ever play a prank on you like he's known to do on his friends?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Not likely."

"Why not?"

"He'd be scared to be hurt again, even if the adoptive parent wouldn't hurt him."

"How would you feel if he did prank you after you had accidentally hurt him?"

Harry bit his lip as he let his gaze rest on Sirius' arm. How would he feel if Sirius would dare to prank him, for he had long since realised Remus was talking about his godfather.

"I'd feel…happy. Because by pranking me in retaliation I'd be given trust. The trust to be fair and trusted not to hurt him on purpose. Grandfather was happy because by pranking him Sirius had placed his trust in him."

"Exactly."

"Any more questions?" Sirius asked with a tease and Harry chuckled as he glanced at his godfather's upper body once more, taking in every scar individually, his eyes lingering on the weird shackle-like scars on his wrists for a moment.

"The second set of bite marks was made by Moony?" He asked instead as Sirius shifted slightly.

"Yes. He gave me those early in sixth year. You sure bit me a lot in sixth year now that I think about it," Sirius teased Remus, relaxing as he didn't ask about those on his wrists.

"I can't help it that you are so bit-able and got in the way of Moony's teeth so often," Remus shot back without a pause, making Sirius and Harry laugh.

"No more questions for now." Harry decided and Sirius nodded, pulling his shirt over his head again.

"Shall we open that letter now or is there more you want to talk about?" Remus asked and Sirius glanced down at the letter that had moved to the edge of the bed during his moving around.

"I completely forgot about that thing," Sirius admitted as he ripped the envelope open, a piece of paper falling out and a few words written on the parchment that had been folded around it. Sirius reached for the fallen paper and unfolded it, revealing an article of the Daily Prophet.

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED-RETURNS.

TRUTH REVEALED.

SIRIUS BLACK CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES, PETER PETTIGREW'S ORDER OF MERLIN REVOKED, REVEALED DEATH EATER.

AMELIA BONES TAKES CHARGE.

In a statement earlier today shocking information came to light after a break in at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Escaped mass murderer Sirius Black and werewolf Remus Lupin barged into a crowded great hall to, as several reliable students testified, demand to know why Hogwarts High Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge used an illegal Blood Quill on Black's godson Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

During this display of parental behaviour several shocking facts came to light. Black showed the entire student body present Pensieve memories of the Resurrection of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Confirming the story young Harry Potter has insisted on being true since the Triwizard finale, which cost the life of another champion in said tournament.

A student who was shown to be murdered by a believed deceased hero, Peter Pettigrew. A man who supposedly confronted and was killed alongside twelve Muggles by none other than You-Know-Who's right hand Sirius Black.

Murders Black was convicted for, or so everyone believed. Nothing is more shocking than the truth as Black never received a trial in the twelve years he's been imprisoned in Azkaban. A thorough investigation brought shocking results forth as the Pensieve memory showed Pettigrew to willingly aid in the resurrecting of You-Know-Who and his Dark Mark revealed for all to see. A reinvestigation into the received wands at the scene fourteen years ago revealed the simple, yet devastating truth. Not Black's wand, but the one belonging to Pettigrew had fired the spell that resulted in the death of twelve Muggles and in the chaos afterwards Pettigrew disappeared, framing Black for his crime and supposed death.

After the fortunate capture of Pettigrew yesterday eve during an unidentified raid by the Magical Law Enforcement all other charges against the newly reinstated Lord Black were dropped as well, such as the betrayal of the Potter family as Pettigrew testified under Veritaserum to having betrayed the Potters' Secret to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, which led to the famous events involving the Boy Who Lived. More about the Potters and the Fidelius Charm is readable on page 4.

Madam Amelia Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, was not available for comment as she is busy after the raid of yesterday eve. But she let it be known that she shall do anything in her power to reinstate Lord Black's reputation and honour in the world, including a statement going out to the Muggle law enforcement proclaiming his innocence. She has asked him to come forward to receive the Ministry's sincerest apologies and restitution for the crimes committed against the Noble and Most Ancient house of Black alongside an Order of Merlin first class for his services against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named during the First Wizarding War.

For a more in depth article on Lord Black go to page 6…

"You are free," Remus whispered hoarsely, being the first to find his voice as all three of them stared at the paper in shock for several minutes.

"I...I expected they'd be forced to give me a trial now. I never even considered they'd just clear me," Sirius looked stunned.

"You are free," Remus repeated before he grabbed Sirius and pulled him into a bone crushing embrace, not unlike the one Harry had witnessed them sharing when they first met again in the Shrieking Shack.

Sirius did not react for several seconds before the words slowly seemed to get through to him and he embraced Remus back just as tightly.

Harry swallowed, tears appearing in his eyes at the sight of the two friends before he heard Sirius let out a choke that was dangerously close to tears and Harry moved to wrap his arms around his godfather too. Remus shifted without ever loosening his hold so that Harry was directly in Sirius' arms and all three of them held on tightly for a good while, Harry more feeling than seeing the tears that were emotionally shed by his two favourite people too.

"You are free Siri," Harry eventually whispered, afraid that if he spoke any louder it would all turn out to be a dream.

Sirius nodded but did not speak so Harry simply tightened his hold on his godfather again, feeling Remus doing the same.

It was only after what seemed like an eternity that Sirius pulled free from their embraces, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and looked at the paper again before his eyes fell onto the parchment that had been included and laid forgotten to the side.

Dear Sirius,

I am not sure if you receive the Prophet where you are, but I believe you would like to know this as soon as possible.

Congratulations and I would like to say it is about time.

I expect an invitation to the upcoming adoption as soon as you have arranged it to happen and for you to bring your little family by for proper congratulations.

Yours truly,

Minerva McGonagall.

"Adoption?" Harry asked surprised.

Sirius had mentioned before that he'd become his unofficial guardian but Harry had somehow never even considered for Sirius to actually want to make it legal. He had been happy he wouldn't have to return to the Dursleys for as long as Sirius would have him. But adoption would be beyond his wildest dreams.

He felt a flash of guilt shoot through him for feeling happy and excited to be officially adopted by Sirius, like he would be betraying his parents somehow. But the flash left just as quickly as it had appeared as he knew Sirius would never want to take his parent's place. He would never try to replace his parents no matter what. He knew that by wanting to make it official Sirius simply wanted to legalize his guardianship over him so that no matter what happened no one could ever try and take him away again like Hagrid had done fourteen years ago.

But more importantly than that Harry knew that Sirius simply wanted to give him a family. Wanted to give him a true home and that they could announce to the world that they were truly a family and not just a couple of guy's living together like family. Even if they themselves knew better.

And although he was happy he wouldn't have to return to the Dursleys, he was much happier that Sirius wanted that official bond with him too. That he did not just see him as his godson, his charge. But truly as his son. Harry had already known Sirius loved him more than anything, his actions at Hogwarts had cemented that knowledge into Harry's brain and heart deeply. But loving someone and wanting them around were two different things.

Sirius cleared his throat, not noticing Harry's internal cheering and reading confusion instead of sheer happiness. "I once told McGonagall that if I ever got free the first thing I'd do was legally adopt you so no one could take you away from me again."

"You'd do that?"

"I was going to talk to you about it once I'd get a trial. To see if you would be interested," Sirius shrugged. "It is not truly important; you are and always will be mine no matter what anyone might say but…well…" He trailed of, looking a bit lost to how to explain.

"I would love to be officially considered yours. It won't ever replace mum and dad, but you and Remus are my family and an adoption would prove it to the world and make it legally impossible for the Ministry or Dumbledore to interfere," Harry beamed.

"So you would be interested?"

"How soon can you get the papers ready?"

All three of them chuckled. "I'd have to go to the Ministry to get them…and invite McGonagall as she'd be mad if we'd do this without her present."

Harry nodded. "Let's finish our little holiday, it's only a few more days anyway and then go. I want to spend as much time with just the two of you as is remotely possible."

"That would involve getting out of bed," Remus noted.

Sirius groaned before he grabbed them both and let himself fall back onto the pillows. He hugged Harry to himself and used his hold on Remus' arm to pull him close to.

"Sightseeing later…sleep now."

"It is the middle of the day!" Remus exclaimed laughing.

"Any time before ten is to early Moony," Sirius complained, nuzzling Harry's hair, making him laugh.

"Let the old dog sleep for a bit longer Remus, he needs his beauty sleep," Harry teased.

Sirius only grunted as he pulled Harry even closer and Remus chuckled before he seemed to resign himself to a cuddle session and wrapped his arms around Sirius too.

"And you wonder why people are convinced the two of you are dating," Harry snorted out.

Remus shrugged. "Let them think what they want."

"We could do a lot worse," Sirius murmured.

"Like having most of the school convinced you are a complete player?" Remus said innocently, making Sirius snort.

"That is so unfair. I didn't even know about that rumour until seventh year when Peter blew up that potion."

"What potion?" Harry asked.

"He was supposed to brew something simple but messed up something so big that it ended in a castle wide explosion and every student was surrounded by a glow. A glow which showed their sexual status to everyone."

"No way!"

"Yeah. People with a green glow were mostly first and second years who never kissed. Blue meant you had kissed someone while purple indicated some making out and red more."

"How did everyone know what the colours represented?" Harry asked curiously.

"We figured it out pretty quickly when mostly first and second year students were covered in a green glow but barely any upper class student was. And some people had a reputation that gave away what the other colours meant since most of the teachers were glowing red and several sixth and seventh years too," Remus explained.

"What colours were Dad and you guys?" Harry nodded. It made sense that the students would quickly figure out what the colours represented with that logic used.

"We were all blue, though your mum was purple. It was a complete shock to everyone since Sirius had been known as a complete player since second year and was rumoured to have had sex with most of the upper-class females and several males."

"Which wasn't true?"

Sirius shook his head. "I was raised in a very abusive home. There was no way I was going to get that close to someone without trusting them and the only people I truly trusted were the Marauders. And besides that, I'm pretty old fashioned, I believed in waiting for someone I loved."

"But you had kissed."

Sirius chuckled. "Sort of. I hadn't actually kissed anyone on my own account. But I was kissed twice by someone else."

"By who? Someone I might know?"

"Oh yes. Your father and Remus."

Harry blinked.

"No way! My Dad kissed you!?" he exclaimed as he abruptly sat up and stared at Sirius in shock. His mouth opened and closed a few times like a goldfish, making both Marauders laugh as they too sat up again.

"Your dad kissed me once early in fourth year. He was drunk beyond anything you could possible imagine and believed me to be your mum. Merlin only knows how he made that mistake, though," Sirius explained.

"It was hilarious. Someone had spiked the punch and while we had the good sense to stay clear of it James wanted to know what it was like to be drunk. He got drunk all right and Sirius decided to get him to bed before he'd make an even bigger fool out of himself. But when he was tucking him in James suddenly grabbed him, murmured Evans and stuck his tongue into his mouth."

"What did you do?" Harry asked, caught between mortification and utter amusement at his father's antics.

"I bit his tongue," Sirius flushed as Harry snorted as he could see that happening. "But I wasn't really mad as I knew him and although I must have spent at least fifteen minutes brushing my teeth and tongue to get that awful taste of liquor out, I wasn't really mad at him."

Harry could imagine Sirius doing that perfectly and had to work to not laugh. "I bet Dad was mortified when he got up in the morning."

"He was, though more over the fact that he'd tried to molest Sirius than the actual kiss, funnily enough. He even swore a Marauder's oath to never drink again."

"And did he?"

"No, he never drank a single drop of alcohol again. It dulled our senses so none of us ever drank alcohol if we were expecting a fight at any rate but your dad and Sirius never drank a single drop."

"But you drank Fire Whiskey last summer," Harry looked at Sirius.

"Not by choice I might add. Fire Whiskey is completely disgusting and burns through your throat."

"Then why..?"

"Because it was the only thing that helped. While I could deal with the Dementors lingering touch on my own fairly well, the combination of that and that stupid house broke through my defences and left me freezing from the inside out."

"Only thing that could get him warm again was Fire Whiskey so I made sure he had several glasses of the stuff through the course of the day to keep his blood warming itself."

"Dementors have that much of a lingering effect? I thought chocolate helped with them."

"It does. If you have been exposed to them for a short period of time. But Sirius was exposed to them for an incredible amount of time, making chocolate basically worthless in combination to that house."

"But you don't have any Fire Whiskey now," Harry noted worriedly making Sirius smile.

"Because when I'm away from that darn house I can handle it well enough and chocolate works fine since there is no dark magic eating on my skin."

Harry nodded. "So…now that you are free, we'll move somewhere else?" he asked hopefully and Sirius and Remus both laughed.

"We'll find some place together. We could go look for some places while you are back at Hogwarts and owl you the choices we narrowed it down to…or we could spend some time this holiday to look around?" Sirius asked.

"You would get me involved in the house picking?" Harry asked surprised.

"Of course, you are going to have to live there too," Sirius frowned.

Harry beamed. "Then I'd pick option two. We could always resort to option one if we haven't found anything worthy by the time I have to return right?"

"Right" two voices confirmed.

Harry looked at his godfather with a glint in his eyes.

"So…coming back to our original conversation…your first kiss was with my Dad?" he asked innocently.

Sirius chuckled as he shook his head, not looking the least bit mortified.

"No, Remus stole that one."

"I did not steal it; I more or less accidentally took it," Remus shot back.

"Which translates into stealing it, Moony."

"Do I have to remind you that that was my first kiss too?"

"What happened?" Harry interrupted before the two could really get into a good natured argument if their teasing expressions and smiling was anything to go by.

"The third week of third year Sirius got really sick. And I mean really, really sick. He had already been unwell at the arrival feast but it got steadily worse as time went by. He was shaky, feverish and all but absolutely refused to go to the hospital wing. I thought he had smelled odd since the start of the year and it increasingly got worse. He kept brushing us off but eventually he got sick enough that James and I managed to convince him to let us help him and we discovered the...treatment his parents put him through as his wounds had become heavily infected."

"He normally took care of his own injuries without us ever knowing, but hadn't been able to treat the wounds on his back properly, which is when those scars truly formed. They were in horrible shape when we got to them but he made us swear not to tell anyone or bring him to the hospital wing as it would only make things worse for him. It took a lot of persuading, but eventually he did agree to let us care for him, to try and treat them ourselves and promised to let us continue to do so from then on out," Remus sighed even as an apologetic smile formed on Sirius' lips.

"At any rate, we had been trying to keep him warm to break his fever and eventually he fell into an uneasy slumber, during which I tucked him in and well...whenever I was feeling unwell my mother would always give me a kiss on the forehead and it never failed to comfort me."

"Which, knowing Sirius had never been comforted like that before, you wanted to give him, too," Harry suddenly had a feeling he knew exactly what had happened as both Sirius and Remus flushed.

"Exactly, only when I leaned down he looked up; still half awake and unaware of what I'd been trying to do and we sort of kissed accidentally."

Harry laughed as he was proven to be correct. "That is so totally something that would happen to the two of you! I bet Dad had a field day with it!"

"Oh he did. Literally fell off the bed and it didn't help that McGonagall walked in at that precise moment."

Harry let out a laugh so loud his eyes widened and he clasped his hands before his mouth, looking horrified at the sound he had produced. Both Remus and Sirius laughed at his own surprise.

"Glad to see you find it so funny."

"What did McGonagall say?" Harry asked, waving Sirius' grumble off.

"She faltered in her step momentarily before asking what on earth was going on as the portraits had warned her something was off in our dorm. She took one good look at Sirius before lifting him out of bed and carrying him to the hospital wing while berating us all about getting help when it was clearly needed. Though they never found out about the wounds as Sirius always hid them well behind a rune he had developed himself," Remus added as Harry opened his mouth to ask about it.

"She carried Sirius to the hospital wing?"

"I was a twig so she didn't have any trouble carrying me. Though I still wonder why she didn't use a levitation charm."

"Probably to make sure you were kept warm in the cold corridors with that fever you had. You were quite delirious most of the time," Remus mentioned.

"Hm…"

Harry looked at Sirius for a long moment, thinking if he should ask his question or not when Sirius caught his gaze.

"What do you want to ask?" He asked bemused.

"Well…who were my parent's first kisses?" Harry asked a bit shyly.

"Your mum was with a Hufflepuff in fifth year," Sirius answered.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked surprised, not having thought him to know about his mother.

"I accidentally walked in on them and narrowly avoided being cursed as she screamed at me for ruining her perfectly first moment despite them being in the library."

"Ouch."

"Yes, though it was better than if James had walked in on her. And although technically I was his, we've never counted it so his was your mother's after their first date near the end of our sixth year. She is the only girl he ever kissed, actually."

It was somewhat sad that his mother was the only girl his father had ever kissed, though Harry was also aware of how romantic the mere idea behind it was.

They sat in silence for a couple of moments before Sirius chuckled all of a sudden.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"You aren't thinking of that are you?" Remus asked warily but Sirius only chuckled harder.

"What is he chuckling about?" Harry asked again.

"If I am correct, then he's having fun about your first kiss."

Only louder chuckling was the answer.

"My first kiss? How could he possibly know about that?" Harry asked, mortified that Sirius had somehow learned of the disastrous kiss he had shared with Cho a few days before and besides Hermione and Ron hadn't shared with anyone.

"Because you kissed him when you were thirteen months old, squarely on the lips before proclaiming you'd marry him when you'd be grown up."

"You're kidding me!" Harry exclaimed shocked.

Sirius' chuckling turned into full blown laughter at seeing Harry's face and even Remus couldn't suppress a snicker.

"Why?"

Sirius shifted so that he was sitting up more properly after having fallen over in laughter and tried his uttermost best to get his laughing under control before he answered.

"You were convinced Remus and I were together when you were small and you asked your mummy why we weren't wearing rings like mummy and daddy did. She told you that it was because we weren't married," Sirius grinned.

"That combined with an earlier explanation about different sort of kisses, you hobbled over to me, had me lift you up and promptly planted your lips on mine with a loud smack. Once you'd done that you indeed proclaimed you would marry me when you were big and shower me in kisses like daddy did to mummy if Uncle Mooey wouldn't."

Harry stared at Sirius' twinkling eyes for a moment before chuckled, finding his own antics as a baby funny enough to laugh about it.

"How did he react?" Harry asked as he turned to Remus, knowing he'd give a better answer.

"He stared at you for a long moment, completely flabbergasted before he smiled and said he couldn't wait for you to grow up and remind you of this."

Even Harry had to laugh now as Sirius had tears running down his cheeks from laughing.

"What did Mum and Dad say?"

"James wouldn't stop teasing either of us for the longest time while Lily couldn't stop laughing. Your accusations weren't even that far-fetched as we indeed lived together."

Harry laughed before he sobered again.

"At least that is a better first kiss story than the one I do remember."

"Kissing your godfather is better than kissing someone you like?" Remus asked surprised. "What happened?"

"When did that happen?" Sirius asked at the same time.

"I made her cry and it was a day before you came to pick me up." Harry said with a blush.

"You…" Remus trailed off in shock.

"Wait, is this that Cho girl you told me you liked last year but who went out with the Cedric guy before starting to show interest in you this year?" Sirius suddenly interrupted.

Harry wasn't surprised that Sirius knew about her as he himself had told Sirius he liked her during one of their long nightly conversations last summer. And during the school year he had written to him about her interest in him. It had been much easier to talk to Sirius about it then with his friends for some reason so he wasn't even surprised as he answered.

"The same."

"Then there is hope for you still. She probably cried because she felt conflicted and guilty for kissing you while she used to like the other boy and she didn't know how things would have gone if he hadn't died so she'll feel guilty about liking you now instead. It is a shame your official first kiss was so…what?" Sirius trailed off as he caught Harry staring at him in shock.

"That….that is almost the exact same thing that Hermione said a few days ago. I thought you had to be a girl to get all that."

"Are you calling me a girl?"

"Erm…no…I…But how do you know stuff like that?" Harry asked.

"It is logic thinking? I would feel conflicted too so why wouldn't a girl feel them just as much? Maybe even more since girls are generally much more open in their feelings?" Sirius shrugged.

"You are weird." Harry stated, making Remus laugh.

"He is just a natural. It was always annoying to watch him say all the right things or act perfectly around girls while the rest of us bumbled along quite awkwardly. It was why most thought he was such a player even if he wasn't truly interested in anyone. He could sweet talk his way out of detention by most of the staff because he was so good at emotions."

"But he holds the unbroken record of the most detentions ever gotten in one term," Harry exclaimed.

"Imagine that record if I hadn't weaselled my way out of half of them," Sirius shot back.

"You have got to teach me that."

"I could try. You got the shy part working for you, which might out balance your tendency to ignore the rules."

"I could always claim it are Dad's genes and your bad influence that gets me into trouble."

"That might work too," Sirius smirked. "Well Mister Potter, considering just who your parents and godfather are I shall let it slide just this once." He said in a strange voice that made Remus burst out laughing and gave Harry the impression of some pompous git.

"Who are you imitating?"

"Slughorn. He was the Potions Professor before Snape and played favourites quite thoroughly," Remus answered.

"Not like Snape does," Remus hurried to explain at seeing Harry's disgusted face.

"He was quite nice most of the times. He just had a tendency to sniff out those students who would become famous or excel and add them to his collection of Sluggers. He held meetings every few weeks with all his favourites attending, calling them his Sluggers. Your mother was part of the club and he wanted your dad and Sirius in it too."

"Did he get them?"

"Your dad occasionally joined to try and chat up your mother," Sirius answered.

"And you didn't?"

"I had no desire to be wasting my time with the likes of him, not even for James."

"He liked Sirius though. Partly because he was quite good at potions but mostly because he was the first ever Black to not be sorted in Slytherin."

"You were good at Potions?"

"I got by well enough. Your mother however was a genius when it came to Potions. She frequently beat Snape in class, something rarely anyone did."

"You occasionally did if the potion interested you enough," Remus commented while Sirius shrugged, ignoring the comment.

"She also outshone everyone in Charms. I don't know if you already knew it, but both of your parents were exceptional talented wizards."

Harry beamed at the acknowledgement Sirius made about his parents, especially since Harry knew and had witnessed that Sirius himself was an exceptional wizard too. So for him to say the same thing about especially his mother made him really happy.

"Yeah, she was a force to be reckoned with. Especially when her temper got the better of her while dealing with us at Hogwarts she threw a mean variety of hexes, even as a first year. But other than her temper she truly was remarkable skilful."

"For a Muggle born?" Harry asked, wondering if Sirius had some lingering prejudices like the Weasleys seemed to have unconsciously, too.

Sirius frowned confused and pleasantly surprised Harry with his answer. "No, for a magical person. Most students had to learn everything from books; your mother was famed for already having had quite the control of her magic even before starting Hogwarts."

Remus chuckled as he explained. "It is not very common for most magical folks to have much control over their magic before starting to learn at Hogwarts. Your dad and I were among those common people. Your mum and Sirius were not."

"You controlled your magic already too?" Harry asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I learned how to control it when I was a toddler. A Black simply did not let his emotions get the better of him according to my parents so any time I did accidental magic I was punished for it severely enough that I quickly learned to control my feelings no matter what they threw at me. Your mother however was a natural."

Harry nodded, feeling pride for his mother but at the same time disgust for Sirius' relatives once more. Willing himself to not bring the subject back to Sirius' cruel family he continued his questioning.

"What was Dad good at?"

"He outshone everyone at Transfiguration," Sirius said, which made Harry smile.

"What were your best subjects?"

"Defence," Remus answered. "For both of us actually. Sirius was good at almost every subject he touched but Defence is where he shone. Me too."

"This completely annoyed my relatives of course. I wasn't supposed to be good at casting spells that countered dark curses. There was actually only one spell I always had trouble with," Sirius admitted.

"Which one?" Harry asked curious, wondering just what kind of spell could have troubled his godfather so much.

"The Patronus charm," Sirius smiled proudly and Harry blushed at the clear pride implicated in Sirius' tone and expression as he looked at him that he himself didn't have any trouble with that spell at all.

"You would need a lot of happy memories for that one to work properly," Harry said and Sirius nodded.

"I didn't manage one at all untill after I had run away. And even then it was rather unreliable when needed. We often tried to challenge ourselves ahead of what Hogwarts taught us so we'd been trying to teach ourselves the Patronus charm since second year."

"What were your forms?"

"A wolf and a stag," Remus answered.

"A stag?" Harry asked surprised.

Sirius nodded. "Yes. Usually a Patronus takes the form of the animal you share the deepest infinity with. Which is why a Patronus usually takes the same shape as one's Animagus form."

"But yours doesn't," Harry interrupted.

"No, the times I managed to produce a corporeal one it has always been a stag. We figured that was because basically all the good memories I possessed that were strong enough to use involved your father and thus my Patronus represented that. We experimented with using other memories, ones focusing on Remus and Peter but I never managed to produce more than a bit of silver smoke on those occasions."

"You truly cared deeply about my dad didn't you?" Harry asked softly.

"I loved James more than anything. He was my best friend and my brother. He was my true family…my home," Sirius swallowed thickly as he trailed off, raw emotion clearly visible in his eyes.

"They were almost like twins, acted like it too. Often they didn't even have to speak to understand what the other was thinking or barely two words for the other to understand, which of course drove the rest of us quite insane as we tried to follow their conversations but couldn't because it often played out in their expressions and movements," Remus continued, his voice soft.

" No one ever even tried to imagine one without the other because it just seemed impossible, they were attached to the bone, and even after Hogwarts they remained inseparable. Your mother always joked that by marrying James she had gotten a double deal because they were so close."

Harry swallowed a few times as he simply looked at the two other men. He could almost feel the loss they felt simply by looking at them and felt a deep sorrow as he remembered how easily everyone had turned against his godfather, believing him to have betrayed his father, even the ones who had known how close they had been.

It filled him with anger to know just how easily people had been willing to believe the worst of Sirius, especially if they should have known better. Even just hearing him talk about his father, telling him stories about him, Harry could tell just how much his father had meant to Sirius and he had no personal memories of the two of them interacting together.

So everyone else truly should have known better than to simply believe things. He swallowed again as he resolutely sat up and threw his arms around Sirius' neck, hugging him close. He ignored the small gasp of surprise he heard and just hugged his godfather closer and buried his face into the other's not bandaged shoulder when he felt arms encircle him and hug him back. Sirius chuckled as he rested his head on Harry's shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"I love you very, very much too, pup."

Harry swallowed a lump before smiling.

"You know, your mum's Patronus was a deer. Your father always insisted that it was a clear sign they were meant to be," Sirius said.

"Which of course completely pissed your mother off who in return would hex him," Remus said with a nod.

"James was proven right in the end though," Sirius smiled, making Harry laugh as he sat back, letting go of Sirius but not moving away from his side.

Sirius glanced at the clock before sighing. "We aren't going to catch any sleep any more so we'd better get up don't you think?"

"It is a scary day when Padfoot rolls out of bed early," Remus joked.

"I think you are mistaking me for Lily, I was always up before the crack of dawn while she had to be dragged out of bed."

Sirius stuck out his tongue to Remus as Harry laughed again.

Sirius stared at Harry for a long moment with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I wonder."

"Wonder what?" Harry asked as he shifted, slightly nervous under his godfather's intense gaze.

"Just…" Sirius trailed off as he leaned over and without warning poked his finger into Harry's side, who at once let out a chuckle without meaning to.

"Oh no," Remus swiftly moved off the bed as Sirius possibly beamed and pretty much jumped Harry to attack his sides with his fingers, tickling him merciless. Within moments Harry was reduced to laughing so hard that he could barely breathe as his godfather's fingers seemed to find all his ticklish spots without the least bit of effort.

"M…mercy!" Harry squealed out eventually and Sirius finally stopped tickling him, leaning back on his knees as he was laughing almost as hard as Harry himself was doing.

In the long minutes it took for them both to regain their breaths again Harry stared at his godfather's beaming face. While laughing like this his eyes didn't seem as haunted as usual and Harry got glimpses of the young man Sirius would have been if things had been different. He wanted to glare at his godfather but it came out half-heartedly as he was simply too happy to see his godfather so cheerful and happy. That didn't mean he couldn't try though.

"What did you do that for?"

"Just curious to see if you were ticklish."

"Was Dad ticklish?" Harry asked curious.

"Not at all. Your mum was though. She'd squeal delightfully loud whenever I started to tickle her out of the blue, especially if she was being lazy," Sirius said with clear joy and Harry felt his heart jump at the knowledge that he shared one more trait with his mother.

Sirius smiled at him before he leaned forward and dropped a kiss on Harry's nose.

Harry blinked surprised at the action and touched his nose confused.

"What was that? "

"Something your grandmother always used to do. She'd always kiss your nose when playing with you. Did the same to your parents and me at random intervals. Between making dinner or a game, she'd suddenly lean over and drop a kiss on our noses for no particular reason. Said it was a sign of affection."

"Grandmother did?"

"All the time. Your grandfather was more the type to swing an arm around us out of nowhere and pull us close for a long moment. Scared the living hell out of me the first few times he unthinkingly did that with me, though I'd gotten used to James' displays of affection quite quickly and it wasn't long until I was used to your grandparents, too."

"Dad was a hugger?" That didn't fit with the tough guy image Harry had conjured of his father in his head. But then again Sirius and Remus had proven him wrong on that account too.

Both men snorted. "Not a hugger per se…At least not with other people than Sirius and his own family. He was a rather tactile person though, kind of how Sirius is with people he trusts, but then to everyone. If there was a situation in which he could touch people he did, usually unconsciously. It used to make me feel rather uncomfortable since no one outside my parents ever touched me, afraid I would contaminate them with my lycanthropy or so."

Remus laughed. "And Sirius was entirely unfamiliar with any friendly type of touch. It took a lot of patience and trial and error to get him used to it, though by the end of first year he hardly ever even tensed whenever we would hug him or reach out to him. Your father especially made it a top priority to shower Sirius in affection, which was always fun to see."

"So you are both huggers," Harry teased and Sirius laughed, not even in the slightest offended.

"Yes…as were you as a little kid and you sure display a lot of huggable actions right now too, Mister Potter," Sirius shot back, making Harry laugh.

He swiftly moved off the bed, ruffled both Harry's and Remus' hair, ignored their exclaims of "hey" and grabbed some clean clothes.

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked.

"Taking a shower. You guy's wanted to look at a few houses later today didn't you. We should get ready, have some breakfast and start planning then before we talk the day away," Sirius said before he hopped into the bathroom, leaving the other two to stare at him before springing into action too at his logic.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The house hunting begins and trouble soon arises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own this story or any of it's recognizable characters.
> 
> Extra warnings for this chapter: Small amount of violence, harsher language, though not actual cursing. Bugs, lots of talking and a character death.
> 
> Special thanks to Kitty for beta-ing this story for me and pointing out unclear things and errors.
> 
> Note: People wonder why Bellatrix Lestrange and other Azkaban escapees aren´t in the story...remember, they escaped in January ´96, this story takes place in December ´95 so they are still in Azkaban.

After they finally had breakfast under disguise, as even though Sirius had been cleared of all charges they still felt it would be wise to keep travelling incognito on this holiday, Remus produced a large list of houses across Britain. It seemed the two of them had already narrowed down a list of possible houses to what could apply to them so Harry didn't have to go over a whole bookwork of houses, only to learn over half of them were not anticipating their needs and desires. Which made Harry curious to some of their standards while narrowing it down.

"So why are we going for a free standing house again? Not that I disagree with it but I am curious."

"Because we'd need a safe place for Moony to transform away from nosy and curious eyes and a patch of secure land where he´ll be able to run around on. I also assumed you would want to be able to play Quidditch so we'd need the land for that too. And on top of that I think we would all rather appreciate our peace and privacy, right?"

"Right." Harry agreed as he stared at his copy of the list that he had placed on the breakfast table in the small hotel they were staying in.

"What wishes do you have for a house?" Sirius asked as he looked at his own copy.

"Erm…a Quidditch pitch would be nice yeah and… two bathrooms?" He asked.

Sirius and Remus nodded. "Smart one, we could manage between the three of us but once you'll be bringing friends over it would make more sense to have two."

"I can bring friends over?" Harry asked surprised. Sirius had just said they would appreciate their privacy. Having possible friends over would undermine that privacy, wouldn't it?

"Why wouldn't you?" Sirius asked without looking up from his list.

"I thought you would want the peace and quiet of a free standing house?"

"I do…what does that have to do with you having friends over?" Sirius asked curious as he looked up from his list.

"Wouldn't that kind of ruin your privacy and peace? We'd make noise and bother you and Remus….it wouldn't really be peaceful and quiet would it be?"

Sirius snorted before leaning over to ruffle Harry's hair. "There is a difference between having unwanted people nosing in on us and having people we ourselves invited over. I am not going to keep you away from your friends, Harry. Friends are one of the most important things that you will ever have in your life and I will never deny you the happiness that friendship brings. I might ban some of the parents away if they open their big yap, but your friends will always be welcome as long as they treat you well."

Harry slapped at Sirius' hand and tried to smooth over his hair before simply giving up on it ever behaving as his two companions chuckled at his attempt. He stuck out his tongue to Sirius, who simply rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to his list, making Harry smile.

Sirius looked over a few lines on his paper before he crossed off a few of the choices, as he did that Harry's list crossed the same choices off as Sirius had done on its own and from Remus' agreeing hum he suspected the same thing happened to his own list.

Harry stared at his list for a moment before looking up to Sirius again.

"I thought we wouldn't use magic?" Harry asked quietly, so no one would overhear them, in an attempt to change the subject before he'd cry of happiness. Besides wanting him Sirius also wanted him to have friends.

Sirius glanced at him before looking at the list and smiling. "Oh, this is special paper. It might look completely Muggle but it acts as a message spreader between the people who hold onto a copy of it. What one of us writes on one of the lists, appears on the other copies too. I'm not actively using magic on this."

"So if I were to…draw on this..."

"We'd see it." Remus answered.

"Handy."

"Thanks" Sirius said with a pleased smile.

"You invented this?" Harry asked with a glance at his smile.

"James and I did. After we finished the mirrors James decided we should come up with a similar way to share ideas without being seen talking and pass it to the other two." Sirius answered.

"Mirrors?"

"Something I will explain to you once we get back to London. Help remind me will you?"

"Sure Siri." Harry agreed readily, knowing his godfather's memory was not always as reliable on some things yet. While he was getting much better and remembering more and more things at high speed, some things didn't stay planted in his mind to remember clearly. Especially little every day things like remembering to get groceries or to take out the garbage were things his godfather had trouble with. Sirius wasn't completely used to every day actions like Harry and Remus were, not having done them for fourteen years. In Azkaban he hadn't been able to do anything all day except to remember his worst nightmares and pray to not catch the attention of bored guards. While on the run the only thing he had to be focused on was to not get caught and when he was finally in a house, he was too busy fighting off his demons while dealing with being locked up to think about things like groceries and trash days. Well, they were wizards so trash probably wasn't a problem but it was just an example in his own mind so he could get away with it without being teased. The point was that Sirius needed to be reminded of simple things sometimes and Harry was more than happy to help him with those small things, knowing he was responsible for helping to train his godfather's mind.

Sirius smiled before he glanced back at his list.

"What about the one in Somerset?" Remus asked as he tapped a house on the list for the other two to see which he was talking about.

"Much too close to Devon." Sirius commented immediately without even looking at the one Remus had pointed out.

Both Remus and Harry stared at him for a long moment as they tried to figure out what was in Devon before Remus snorted and Harry chuckled at Sirius' apologizing look.

"No offense pup."

"None taken. I like the Weasleys, but I would prefer not to live quite so close to Mrs. Weasley too."

They all quietly chuckled before debating between the rest of the list till they eventually had a list of ten potential properties they wanted to actually visit to check them out and went on their way to the first one after checking out of the hotel they had spent the night in.

The first three on the list were quickly crossed off as one of them was a Manor in Little Hangleton which had Harry hyperventilating and turned out to be the former hideout of Voldemort and his lackeys. They quickly Apparated away from there and spend a good amount of time at an ice cream parlor eating chocolate ice cream while talking about happy things before continuing on to the rest and deeming the other two too large for their tastes.

It was the sixth on the list that showed the first true potential as it was a large cottage a couple of miles from the beach and they Apparated to the location to get a better look.

Harry bit back a burp as his stomach unrolled from the Side-Along Apparition with Sirius but didn't get the chance to turn around to look at the surroundings as he was roughly shoved aside, seconds before a red beam flashed past him and he heard screaming like he'd only heard in his nightmares.

He landed hard on the ground while a second voice screamed "Accio" and he was suddenly slammed backwards as a big rock folded itself around him from all sides, clearly meant to protect him as it didn't slam into him.

Harry blinked, not immediately understanding what had happened and quite dazzled from being shoved so roughly when he realised just who it was who was screaming.

"Sirius!" He called out, trying to break through the rocks surrounding him by hitting them, frantically trying to get to Sirius and get him as far away from what was making him scream unlike he had ever heard him scream. Not even when awakening from nightmares did he scream like that and Harry felt bile rise in this mouth as various red beams flashed again and again past the slight split between the rocks and he realised just what was happening to his godfather.

How had they run into wizards…presumably Death Eaters while being on house hunting? Had they been somehow followed, despite Sirius' tendency to Apparate to different locations before making his stop where he had to be to shake any possible followers from his trail? It was something that annoyed Harry because he disliked Apparition but he understood the reasoning behind it. When not caught in a fit of desperate rage, Sirius was very precautious in what he did and Remus agreed, even if the other man didn't like Apparition very much either.

"Remus, let me out!" he screamed, knowing Sirius couldn't possible have locked him in there between pushing him aside of the Cruciatus Curse and being hit by it. But there was no answer outside unrecognizable voices screaming curses and shots of lights. Harry cursed loudly, slamming his hands against the rocks as he was helpless to listen to his godfather's screaming, which didn't seem to lessen at all. Whoever was torturing him clearly had no intention of giving him the chance to get up and retaliate. He could only hope that Remus could reach Sirius, if his surrogate uncle was still alive to do so. Immediately Harry berated himself for the thought. If Sirius was being tortured and Remus dead, then who was still fighting? Harry didn't think they had landed in a fight, from what they had told him Voldemort was keeping a low profile to keep his return hidden. So why would they act now all of a sudden…unless…the paper!

His return had been made official that morning, so he had no reason to stay hidden anymore and could attack all he wanted. Had they accidentally landed in a fight without meaning too?

It sounded like something that would happen to them with their luck. But if so, then who were the ones fighting, and why now.

Harry cursed again as he tried to glance through the split in the rocks to see anything. He caught a glimpse of several Death Eaters lying motionless on the ground and a tall man with a vicious face came into view, making Harry pull back in shock.

Was that …

A quick glance confirmed to Harry he had been right.

Greyback.

The man was only familiar to Harry because Remus had told him about him. It had been Greyback who had bitten Remus, having crawled into his bedroom when he had been five years old after having been offended by Remus' father. He had bitten Remus as revenge and the only reason he wasn't dead now was because Remus' father had managed to curse him out of the house. When Harry had heard the story, he had been angry, but when Sirius had drawn a picture of the man that had caused Remus so much pain and suffering, he couldn't have denied the fear that had clenched at his heart at the sight.

Greyback looked every bit like the monster that most people always claimed werewolves were. Could they have accidentally run into Greyback's pack? But no, the werewolves didn't generally posses magic like Remus did and it were definitely spells being thrown around out there. So he must have been among Death Eaters. Sirius had said that Greyback was an ally of Voldemort and that if he ever for whatever reason saw him, he should get the hell out of there by whatever means necessary because that monster didn't need the full moon to try and rip someone apart.

Harry hadn't had the need to remember spotting those specific outstanding scars on Sirius' back and leg to know that Sirius had run into Greyback before but had managed to get away without being infected. Though he had confessed that Remus had accidentally bitten him once before too while not transformed and that outside a new preference for rare steak nothing else had truly changed.

It was then that Harry was pulled out of his shock and realised he couldn't hear Sirius screaming anymore.

Was he….

No!

"Sirius….SIRIUS!" He screamed as he renewed his efforts to get out from his stony prison, not giving a damn about the vicious werewolf walking around outside.

"What do we have here…?" A new voice said and Harry felt a chill run down his spine as soulless blue eyes came into view, framed in a vicious face, and pointy yellow teeth smirked at him.

Almost immediately Harry realised he should have cared as Greyback stared at him and he had no way to escape. In his attempt to protect Harry, Remus had effectively locked Harry in a cage. One that a werewolf would be easily capable of opening with their bare hands due to their superior strength. Something Sirius always grumbled about when he couldn't open the jar of jam while Remus could without any effort.

He shifted as far away from the small opening as he could; leaning back on his heels the way Sirius had taught him to ready himself for a fight and suddenly remembered the existence of his wand. Cursing himself for having forgotten he was a wizard, he quickly grabbed it out of his sleeve where Sirius made him keep it and raised it in defense, determined to go down in a fight and take a few chunks out of Greyback for what he'd done to his family.

Greyback smirked as he looked at the rock in front of him and easily tossed it aside before turning back to Harry.

"Harry Potter." he rasped, widening Harry's eyes. When leaving the hotel that morning they had been sporting a disguise to hide their identities. The only way those would be lifted was if Sirius was unconscious or when he'd taken it off deliberately. But why would he deliberately take it off, especially in the presence of Death Eaters. The only explanation for Greyback to see him for who he truly was would be for Sirius to be out of the fight somehow.

"Sirius…" He whispered in fear for his godfather´s fate.

"Your annoying friend won't help you anymore Potter." Greyback growled. "He's taking a nap."

He moved closer to block Harry's only exit and Harry shifted backwards as much as he could as Greyback's long yellowish nails reached out to touch him. But as they came close within touching range, he was suddenly tossed backwards as a shield appeared around Harry. Harry let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, recognizing the magic in the Protego charm as Sirius' signature and almost staggered in relief upon realizing his godfather was still alive or the charm wouldn't have activated.

He had objected to the charm when Sirius had first drawn the protective rune on him before their vacation, claiming he wasn't helpless, but Sirius had asked him to humor him and now Harry was more relieved than anything that Sirius had taken the precaution, even if it only worked a limited amount of time and only against certain things. Including hostile and unwanted touches.

"You!" Greyback had recovered from the blast and was on his feet again, charging towards him and Harry braced himself when suddenly a shadow appeared behind Greyback.

"Avada Kedavra."

Harry stared as Greyback's eyes widened in shock as the spell was cast and he realised he was trapped before going down with the expression frozen on his face. Harry gaped in shock but didn't let himself falter. He immediately raised his wand again, even as Greyback was still falling, to the person who was behind him.

"Good reaction." A hoarse familiar voice commented and Harry lowered his wand as he realised who it was that had taken down Greyback.

"Sirius!" he exclaimed in relief. For even if he had known the man was still alive he hadn't known how he was. He quickly glanced over his godfather's frame, taking in the torn and ripped clothing and the various bleeding cuts.

"Are you…"

"Stay behind me." Sirius interrupted him sharply as he turned away from him and Harry, realizing they weren't safe yet, immediately did as he was told. He might not like being treated like a child but even he was smart enough to accept that these guys were far above his current magical level if they had managed to hurt Sirius like that.

"Where is Remus?"

"Taking out the last of the werewolves so they can't harm us."

"There was more than only Greyback?" Harry asked as he glanced around to see various bodies littering the ground around them, most clearly dead.

"A dozen or so. He couldn't fight Greyback but he could do all he could to protect us from the others."

"Why…"

"Later, we've taken out most of the Death Eaters that attacked us but the Anti-Apparition shields are still active so there are more in hiding."

"What happened?"

"We Apparated in the middle of a Death Eater gathering. It is lucky most of them were shocked at our sudden appearance or we'd have been dead." Remus voice answered him as he joined them. From Sirius' lack of reaction Harry understood his godfather had already sensed him approaching. A quick glance at Remus informed Harry that he was relatively unharmed.

"You were hit by a Cruciatus though, I heard your screams," Harry said, feeling his temper rise at realizing he had been caught unaware. If he had paid more attention to their surroundings Sirius might not have had to push him out of the way and would have gained the upper hand without having been harmed. Though, as he glanced around he realised the two Marauders seemed to have the upper hand anyway.

"You shall hear more of those in due time Harry Potter."

Harry stopped dead in his tracks as out of nowhere several Death Eaters appeared and before them stood none other than Voldemort himself.

They hadn't run into a Death Eater gathering at all, they had Apparated directly into the hole of the snake and his gang.

A single movement from Sirius had Harry blocked between him and Remus. Both Marauders had their wands raised and Harry too raised his wand, knowing they might get away if he could just distract Voldemort long enough.

"Do not even bother to think about Apparating, you shall not succeed."

"We don't plan to run from snake bullies, Tommie." Sirius answered with a sneer on his face and such venom in his voice that Harry was almost compelled to check if he had poison spitting out of his mouth. But he resisted and even managed to resist looking surprised that Sirius knew Voldemort's real name.

"Such bravery, but yet so foolish. Shall you hand the boy over to me now or shall I have to step over your corpse first?"

"How about you try to get past me in the first place," Sirius shot back as he shifted before Harry.

"Sirius, no," Harry whispered but Sirius either ignored or didn't hear him as he took a step forward.

"I believe you challenged Harry to a duel last year, wanting to do things…properly. Shall we… extend the same courtesy now too, Tom?"

"Very well. You are but a bug in my way to take the boy out once and for all," Voldemort answered as he broke loose from his circle of Death Eaters. Harry was caught by a strong feeling of déjà vu as he watched Sirius step away from himself and the Death Eaters began to encircle them all and wanted to move forward to aid his godfather. But he was prevented from taking a single step by Remus' strong arms wrapping around him and a bluish white barrier appearing around the two of them that Harry was sure Sirius had cast silently, but seemed unlike any Protego he had ever seen.

"You do not need to try and uselessly protect the boy during our short duel. He shall not be touched before he's seen you been ripped apart."

"It is not you who I am concerned about, but your circle of bugs who might try to aid you when they feel their queen is going to lose."

During the uproar that Sirius' words caused among the watching Death Eaters, Remus whispered a warning into Harry's ear.

"Don't touch the barrier. It is a combination of the highest protection spells known by the Black family. The only thing capable of stopping a killing curse as they first need to use enough power to break through the barrier before they can cast spells directly at us. If they touch it personally, they will vaporize."

Harry shifted and gave a small nod to indicate he had heard Remus but refused to move his eyes from Sirius. He was amazed that the other man seemed so calm while faced by a circle of Voldemort's Death Eaters, presumable his strongest, and the snake bastard himself who were all out for his blood.

"Will he be all right?"

"If we don't get in his way, he might. Your father and he were two of the most brilliant and powerful duellists of our time. They defied Voldemort and his followers several times, even when all the odds were against them."

Harry swallowed as he watched while Voldemort took a duelling stance and waited as Sirius got ready too.

"Shall you bow before me before we begin?"Voldemort asked and Sirius snorted.

"I don't bow willingly before anyone unworthy of my respect. And the leech that you are has certainly not earned my respect."

"You should always respect your betters, Black."

"If so then you should be kissing the ground that I walk on, Riddle." Sirius shot back at him with a smirk.

"How dare you."

"What? You haven't told your little troop of parasites that their firm leader is nothing more than a fraud? That your hatred for all those Muggles and Half-Bloods stems from being born to a Muggle father who was unwillingly enslaved and raped by your mother and wanted to have nothing to do with the product of his enslavement once he got released. Or that your mother did not care enough about you to try and stay alive for the sake of her son once the object of her desire had broken free and left her with his spawn, meaning you share the same blood as those so called filthy Muggles you hate so much. Which in your own twisted beliefs means that you are not even worthy of kissing the hem of my pure-blooded robes."

Voldemort seemed beyond rage at Sirius' words, unable to utter a word, and even Harry looked at his godfather in surprise. How did he know all of this? It had never occurred to Harry to tell his godfather about what he had learned about Voldemort during their face offs. So how did Sirius know that.

"You dare…"

"You'd be surprised what I dare Riddle. I might never have liked my family and their obsession with bloodlines but at least they made sure I knew every little aspect of the Wizarding world's families. I know that Riddle is not a Wizarding surname, so after a surprisingly little amount of digging I found out about the Gaunt family's daughter. I must say…even with their famed instability…you took their insanity to whole new levels."

"Don't bait him Siri." Remus muttered and Harry couldn't help but to agree with him as he watched Voldemort's face contort into hatred and anger.

"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed and Harry gasped as Sirius only rolled out of the way at the last possible second. Something for which the reason apparently became clear when Voldemort's robes suddenly caught fire. He had extinguished them within seconds though and from then on the two shot spells back and forth with such speed that Harry could only see blurs of movement, though he kept his eyes firmly on Sirius, who for all intents and purposes seemed to be performing a dance as he moved fluently around Voldemort while avoiding everything Voldemort threw at him and never stopping with throwing back silent spells himself.

If he hadn't been so terrified for his godfather he might even have been awed by the power the two displayed.

"I've never seen Sirius display so much power before," he muttered softly to Remus who was looking at the two as well. While his godfather had displayed an impressive amount of power at Hogwarts, it was nowhere near the level of what he was displaying now.

"After you informed us that Voldemort had been resurrected and he got his hands on a wand he's been training endlessly. Starting from scratch to re-learn everything he knew and build up his power reserves to what they once were and beyond that. In the first war Sirius was one of the few Voldemort wanted dead more than anything. He wasn't an Auror but he took down more Death Eaters than most Aurors managed combined. Usually paired with James, they were a team unlike any other. They combined their natural power with their knowledge of pranks and Muggle fighting styles to remain unpredictable. If you separate a wizard from his wand they are usually powerless. Well, not the few capable of wandless magic and Voldemort, but most as you´ve seen displayed at Hogwarts. Anyway, they made sure to learn as many fighting styles as they could, so that even if they lost their wands they wouldn't be rendered powerless. I've seen him take down a Death Eater with a couple of well aimed kicks once."

"Voldemort feared him?"

"He feared the team that James and Sirius formed together. There were few who managed to stand before him and escape with their lives, especially when they weren't highly trained Aurors. For two young men at their late teens to do that not once but repeatedly made them a danger to his power."

"So Sirius can win this." Harry said.

"I believe he just might as long as you are what is at stake."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you are all Sirius has left and he'd sooner die than fail you."

"He has you too."

"That is not the same Harry. He swore to himself that he would keep you safe. That he wouldn't lose you like he's lost James. You are the most precious thing in his life Harry. And not just because you are the son of the ones he loved so much. But because for him you are his son too. And nothing is more important to him than you are. If it means my death will keep you safe, then it is not even a hesitation for him. And that is the way it should be." Remus said firmly.

Harry broke his gaze from the blurs in front of them to stare at Remus for a long moment, only now realizing the older man was still holding him pressed against his chest with one arm while the other had his wand raised in defence. Truly ready to defend him at the cost of his own life if needed, and Harry felt his stomach twist at the thought.

"I don't want you to die either." He whispered once he found his voice again.

"I know." Remus whispered. "And neither does Sirius, but we both agree. If either of our deaths means that you will be safe then we will both gladly lay down our lives for that to happen."

"If you are both so hell bend on protecting me then who would protect me if you were both dead?!"

"Sirius threw the same accusation at your father once when he got hurt while trying to protect Sirius after your godfather had been seriously hurt during an ambush by Slytherins at Hogwarts. Because he wants to keep protecting you, he is fighting with all he has to stay alive so he can keep doing that. And he is counting on me to keep you out of harms way while he does so."

Remus glanced down into Harry's eyes. "I failed Sirius once; I will not fail him ever again." Harry stared back into Remus' determined eyes and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat as he nodded.

"Avada…!"

Harry felt his heart shoot into his throat as he berated himself for losing his focus on the battle and it took him a long moment to locate Sirius as the man had jumped out of the way from the Killing Curse at the last moment, it hitting the Death Eater behind him instead.

"Start acting like a wizard and fight like the pure-blood blood-traitor that you are." Voldemort called out between curses that Sirius easily ducked.

"Then why don't you act like the cockroach I know you are!" Sirius shot back, annoyance visible on his face.

The moment Sirius uttered those words, Harry was suddenly forcefully reminded of a story Remus and Sirius had told him before and with a sudden clarity of what was about to happen he called out to Sirius.

"Sirius! Step forward!"

It spoke for Sirius' unwavering trust in him that he didn't even hesitate or question the words and swiftly stepped forward even as Voldemort suddenly disappeared from where he had been standing.

A loud crushing sound was heard underneath his feet and time seemed to freeze for a long moment in which Sirius stared at his shoes confused before seemingly to realise just what had happened and immediately turned around to cast a strong spell at the few Death Eaters who hadn't been hit by wayward spells and were staring at him in bewilderment, shock and confusion.

They were immediately immobilized at the same time that the barrier around Harry and Remus lifted.

"What do you want to do with them before they unfreeze?" Sirius said hurriedly by way of greeting as they moved towards him. "I tried to take out as many as I could while fighting Voldi but I couldn't get in the way of all of them."

"Should we deliver them to the Aurors in their Master's style?" Harry suggested as he refrained himself from either berating Sirius for endangering himself or hugging him senseless because he was so glad he was still alive. This was not the moment to lose focus.

The two men glanced at one another before they simultaneously waved their wands over the Death Eaters, turning them into a variety of cockroaches which Remus banned into a large jar he quickly conjured.

Harry closed the lid after all the unconscious and killed Death Eaters transfigured into bugs had been collected, among them the body of Greyback.

"Now what?"

"We have a look at the bug queen?" Sirius suggested.

Remus made a disgusted face. "I cannot believe that you changed him into an actual cockroach."

"I didn't exactly do it on purpose. How did you know what was going to happen anyway pup?" Sirius directed at Harry, who was still staring at the jar in disgust.

"Because you were annoyed with him and I suddenly remembered that story you told me where you changed dad into a bird when he truly annoyed you. And I just knew what was going to happen."

"So you had me ruin my perfectly fine shoes by having me step onto that thing?" Sirius said with disgust in his voice.

"Had to prevent him from realizing what had happened and get away."

"You made me step on the ugliest bug I've ever seen." Sirius said dryly.

"I'll buy you new shoes." Harry offered.

Sirius stared at him for a long second before he barked out a laugh and pulled Harry into a brief one armed hug.

"Well played pup."

He turned back to where the crushed cockroach was and waved his wand over it, concentrating for a moment before the dishevelled and broken form of Voldemort reappeared. His body was mangled and broken, his limbs lying in awkward positions around him as his red eyes stared forward unseeingly from a broken and bloody face.

"Are you absolutely sure he is dead? Cockroaches are known to survive lots of things." Remus asked a bit uncertainly.

Sirius stared at the body before him before he looked at Remus with a calculating look in his eyes.

"I know you dislike killing but seeing as that he's already technically dead anyway…would you do the honours?"

"Me?...okay…Avada Kedavra." A blinding flash of green light shot out of Remus' wand and hit the unmoving body lying on the ground before them.

"Now he certainly is dead." Sirius said cockily.

"He survived a rebound of the curse before. Maybe he has some way to stay alive?" Remus asked, despite having been the one to cast the curse.

"We already destroyed all his Horcruxes, including the part he attached to Harry this summer and his body hasn't disappeared upon casting the Killing Curse, so I think we are good this time."

"Just wanting to be sure." Remus remarked.

"I know." Sirius said with a small smile as he turned to Harry.

"What do you think about delivering this trash to the Ministry before getting a long hot bath somewhere and then resuming our search for a house in a more…safe environment?"

Harry snorted. "Yeah sure. I didn't really like this option all that much anyway with all the bugs around. Are you alright though? You look like hell." He said as he carefully touched one of the slashes in Sirius' side, making his godfather wince slightly.

"I could do with a nice bath, some clean clothes and perhaps a little sleep. But I'm fine."

"But you were hit with the Cruciatus curse repeatedly and from the looks of it by several people too." Harry exclaimed disbelievingly.

Sirius shrugged. "I admit that I'm pretty sore but you forget that I've gotten fairly used to being put under that spell over the years, so even though it hurts like hell it is nothing I couldn't handle. I promise I will take it easy for a few days all right?"

"You swear?"

"I solemnly swear pup. And besides, most of the curses Voldi threw at me ended up hitting his own followers."

"That was a smart move of you I must admit. You tried to take them out so that if you should fail to stop Voldemort we would have an easier time to get away didn't you." Remus more stated than asked before he frowned."What I don't understand is why they didn't try to get out of the way once you jumped out of the way of the spells, they aren't exactly stupid or they would never have survived that long without getting caught."

Sirius grinned. "Well, piss of the Queen to get him mad enough and the subjects will usually get absorbed into the ongoing fight without actually joining themselves, oblivious to their surroundings as they are so focused on their master's anger. And by insulting Voldy with anything I could think of he was completely focused on me and didn't pay attention or cared where his spells ended up as he desired to kill me so badly. And as long as I stayed clear of coming near you two while doing so there was little chance of either of you getting hit by a wayward spell accidentally or being in the focus of any Death Eaters as they were so occupied."

"You…." Harry started, understanding the brilliance of Sirius' actions even if he didn't like the realisation he had put himself into more danger on purpose.

Remus didn't speak as he pulled Sirius into a short hug before hitting him on the head without much force.

"Ow, what is that for?" Sirius said with a pout but without real pain.

"For being an insufferable smart idiot and for Immobilizing me like that without warning…and…" Remus trailed off as he once more pulled Sirius into a hug, a bone crushing one this time.

"And that is for killing Greyback," He finished with a choke. "Thank you…" He muttered as Sirius held him close for a long moment, too.

"Any time Moony, brothers protect each other after all." Sirius said softly, making Remus smile despite his tears.

Harry looked at Sirius.

"Are you going to explain now why Remus couldn't fight Greyback?"

Sirius and Remus let each other go again as Remus cleared his throat and wiped away the last traces of his tears.

"Greyback was the one who bit me, you know that right?"

"Yeah."

"There is a curse werewolves fall under that they cannot escape no matter how much many would want to."

"Besides the transformation one?"

"Yes, a werewolf cannot go against his…maker. Meaning that when they find out who's infected them they cannot take revenge by killing or attacking him or her. No matter what ways they think up, they simply cannot go up against the one who bit them. Even magic will not work against them in that situation."

"So you were powerless against Greyback. When he attacked me…"

"I would have been helpless to stop him as I couldn't cause him harm."

"But Sirius was bitten by him before too…"

"The curse only works when the werewolf is transformed when biting someone. And even if it had worked like that then Remus still was the one who bit me first."

"So you would have been unable to hit Remus then?"

"Precisely." Sirius turned back to Remus and hit him hard on the arm. "Ow!"

"And seeing as that I can clearly hurt him I am not affected by that curse."

"You killed Greyback with the Killing Curse…and Remus used it against Voldemort too. Will you two get into trouble for that?" Harry suddenly asked as fear arose inside him at the possibility he'd lose his godfather just after he'd finally gotten cleared. Not to mention Remus.

"Not likely as it saved your life and took down two of the most dangerous monsters alive. Besides, they rather owe me something after locking me up without a trial."

He turned once more to the mauled form of Voldemort.

"How are we going to transport him without raising a tremendous scene?"

"By use of a Portkey?" Remus suggested.

"Uh, can we truly dump him at the Ministry without warning like that?" Harry asked.

"I might have an idea." Sirius said after a few moments of silence and waved his wand over a small rock that he lifted to rest on Voldemort's corpse.

"Portos. Dobby!"

A loud pop announced their House elf friend's arrival.

"Master Sirius called?"

Sirius smiled. "Hello Dobby. Would you please keep an eye on this here till the Portkey activates in half an hour?"

Dobby glanced down at what Sirius was gesturing to and his large eyes almost bulged out of their sockets before they settled again as he accepted what he saw without a comment. Harry suppressed a chuckle at the elf's ability to adapt to unusual situations since coming into their service and instead smiled at the small elf as he hesitantly looked up to Sirius again.

"Dobby could bring him where you want him to go sir."

"Thank you, but there is no need for you to dirty your hands on such a vile thing."

Big tears appeared in Dobby's round eyes.

"Master too kind. Dobby promises to keep two eyes on the vile thing."

"Thank you Dobby. After he has disappeared would you please be so kind as to secretly check this list to see if the locations are safe to visit? You are not allowed to endanger for any reason though. If you see anything suspicious you are to get to safety immediately and leave a message on the paper so we'll know that you are safe."

"Dobby will sir and thank you. Do Masters want Dobby to clean master's clothes and treat wounds to best of Dobby's abilities?"

Sirius looked from Dobby to his clothing and then glanced at the other two.

"Yeah, that would be very nice, smart idea, Dobby."

Dobby beamed at the praise before snapping his fingers and their clothing immediately got fixed. Their cuts and bruises didn't get fully healed but from the slight change in Sirius' and Remus' posture Harry knew they did feel the relief of whatever Dobby had done with his own magic. Harry's gaze fell upon Sirius' shoes and he thanked Dobby wholeheartedly as they were completely clean again, which in turn made the other two snicker and Dobby to be confused but grateful for the appreciation.

"We should go if we want to have enough time to alert Bones to his arrival. Thank you Dobby. We will probably be returning to Grimmauld Place tomorrow night, so take it easy till then all right. If the plans change we will let you know in time," Sirius said as he put his hand around Remus' arm and gestured for Harry to do the same, which he did with slight confusion. Normally Sirius Apparated them wherever they went but one look at Sirius' slightly pale face told Harry he was rather tired and indeed very sore from having been hit by the Cruciatus Curse repeatedly. Remus didn't comment as he had probably come to the same conclusion and simply tightened Sirius' hand securely between his arm and side and did the same with Harry's.

"Dobby shall Master Sirius."

With a small wave the three of them Apparated away and appeared in front of the Ministry. Sirius manoeuvred Harry to walk in front of him while Remus moved so that he could walk beside Sirius.

"Why do you always make me walk before you when we're in public?" Harry asked.

"So I can push you aside if I spot or sense any danger." Sirius answered easily.

"I'd almost think that you don't trust me to take care of myself." Harry teased, not having forgotten what had happened merely half an hour ago and thus not really being offended by Sirius' precaution this time.

"I'd rather apologize than be sorry if something happened to you." Sirius said a hint of apology in his voice.

Harry nodded. "I understand. Even though I am fifteen it is deeply ingrained in you to protect me and you will always keep doing so, even if I'll turn fifty or so."

Sirius smiled. "And I wouldn't have it any other way, pup."

Harry stuck out his tongue to Sirius before he let himself be led into the Ministry and through the many hallways and an elevator to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on the second level.

Sirius walked purposely to one of the divisions without hesitation and stopped before the desk with a young woman sitting behind it.

"We would like to speak to Amelia Bones immediately." Sirius said.

"I am afraid that Madam Bones is unable to attend to visitors at the moment. Could I pass her a message?"

"Tell her that Sirius Black and company are here to deliver something." Remus interrupted before Sirius could answer.

"L….Lord Black?" The girl at the desk more or less squealed, making various others look up at the words in curiosity.

"Make it quick, will you. I haven't got all day." Sirius said sounding bored, though he winked at Harry who suppressed a smile at the action.

"Right away, Sir." The girl jumped up and almost ran out of the office.

"If I didn't know you I would think you were a true pure-blood." Remus said with a sigh.

"Are you calling me a fake?" Sirius asked with a hurt expression on his face, though a grin betrayed his amusement.

Harry glanced at his godfather, who was dressed in dark blue Muggle jeans and a black coat over a thick darker blue sweater. His clothing and posture screamed Muggle, though his voice betrayed a well drilled in etiquette right now that could only belong to a pure-blood or royalty as Harry doubted it could be faked that conveniently while sounding as uninterested as Sirius did right then.

"I wouldn't dare. I'd call you purely Muggle if it weren't for the wand I happen to know is hidden in your sleeve and knowing your surname." Remus said with a smile.

"Which is why we were travelling under the cover of fake names, my dear Moony."

"Incognito wouldn't have gotten that girl running, Pads," Remus shot back.

"Touché." Sirius admitted easily enough and Harry chuckled at their antics. Trust the two Marauders to play around after what had just happened. Though Harry was a bit surprised at their unconcerned attitude towards what had happened, he quickly understood that both of them had lived through a war in which, with their personalities, they both fought in actively. And having to deal with Sirius' precaution and knowing how Moody usually acted as well, he knew that neither Marauder would ever be truly able to get out of that war's consequences. For them fights like this would have been normal occurrences, things that didn't make them bat their eyes anymore.

And it surprised Harry that he himself was much less effected by what had happened than he would have been less than half a year ago with the Graveyard events. Either he had seen too much already or Sirius and Remus had rubbed off on him more thoroughly than he had thought already.

"Madam Bones is ready to see you now." They turned to see the girl approaching.

"Good, lead the way," Sirius said as they easily followed the girl's quicker than necessary paces, like Remus had said, Sirius' name had truly sent her running, and entered the open door when indicated.

"Lord Black…Mr. Potter and…Mr. Lupin I presume?" The slightly familiar voice of Amelia Bones greeted them, surprising Harry momentarily in knowing who Remus was before he remembered that the article of that morning had mentioned Remus being with Sirius when he came to Hogwarts. She looked exactly like Harry remembered her from his hearing that summer, though slightly more tired. Between Voldemort's return and everything surrounding Sirius she must have had a lot of work.

"Good afternoon Madam Bones." Sirius greeted her formally and Harry repeated the words when Remus did too.

They all sat down when indicated and Madam Bones looked at the three of them for a long moment before starting to open her mouth when Sirius interrupted.

"We came across some trash today and my godson suggested that we'd deliver it at the Aurors." He said and Remus placed the jar filled with cockroaches on her desk.

"Are those…" Madam Bones said with a disgusted look on her face upon seeing the contents of the jar.

"A couple dozen of Death Eaters. Some of whom escaped being punished and others who were never even tried. There is some other fry in there too such as Fenrir Greyback but they are unmarked and not all of them are in living conditions anymore."

Sirius paused to let the words sink in.

"In a few minutes their vile leader will be arriving into your holding cells by the means of a slightly illegal Portkey. My sincere apologies for that, but we agreed that it would cause an uproar if we were to bring him with us. He is a bit … ruffled though. He was accidentally stepped on." Sirius continued calmly as if he was talking about the weather and Harry had to stifle a chuckle at Madam Bones' confused and shocked expression. That was sure to get her full attention.

"There are transfigured Death Eaters in that jar?" she asked rather dumbfounded.

"And presumably some unmarked followers."

"And by their vile leader you mean…"

"Yes."

"Into our holding cells?"

"That would be right."

"Ruffled?"

"Ruffled and pretty much dead actually."

"Dead?!"

"Affirmative."

"How…."

"He didn't take into account an annoyed godfather, a cleverer than him godson and an angry uncle," Sirius answered cheekily and Harry bit his lip hard enough to draw blood to keep himself from laughing at the way their conversation was going and Madam Bones unguarded expression.

"You-Know-Who…is dead. Stepped on by…" Amelia Bones' expression had gone from shock to horror, back to shock and absolutely perplexed in the matter of moments.

"That depends…what is in it for the one who did him in?" Sirius asked as he leaned slightly forward in attention and Harry frowned at Sirius' words. Why didn't he just say he'd killed him? Wouldn't they be able to verify that easily enough with Veritaserum?

"A big reward, an Order of Merlin first class and some other things." Madam Bones answered and Harry wondered if she was answering automatically because she still looked rather shocked.

"He'd be a hero right? All sorts of privileges and stuff like that, eternal glory and being publicly recognized for his services to the Wizarding World?"

"Basically yes."

"Well then….Remus Lupin finished him off."

"I did not! Sirius you were the one who stepped on him." Remus objected immediately as his head almost snapped with how quickly he had whipped it around to glare at Sirius while Harry looked confused between them for a long moment.

"Ah, but you made sure he was dead. So the honour goes to you." Sirius said with a smile that was just a little too devilish to be completely healthy.

"Y…you made sure that I was the one who used that curse so that if they'd want proof they would know my wand was the one that cast it." Remus said as realization came to him and he got a stubborn expression on his face. "You set this up…you…I won't take the credit for something I didn't do, Sirius."

Harry looked back and forth between the two before noticing Amelia Bones did the same before a glint appeared in her eyes as she seemed to understand what was going on and took delight in what she saw.

"Oh shush Moony. You saved our lives. You know you really should learn to take credit for what you've done." Sirius said without looking at Remus.

"I assume this will rather change everything…won't it?" Sirius asked with a smile towards Madam Bones.

"It would. Prejudiced as the Wizarding World is, even they cannot get around the fact that it was a werewolf who ultimately took down the most feared Dark Lord ever known and several of his servants. When the news comes out it will change everything for their kind."

"How so." Harry asked carefully, still not fully understanding what they were playing at but realizing that Madam Bones was playing along with Sirius' game happily even if Remus didn't seem to like it.

"Werewolves are being shunned and treated horribly by the Wizarding society. It is unlikely that anything will ever truly change for them despite our best efforts," Sirius said. "But…were they to learn that the person who took out Voldemort, the man most fear so greatly they do not even dare say his name, were to be taken down by a werewolf…and that the live of their precious Boy Who Lived was saved by the same werewolf…"

"Not to mention Lord Black's life." Madam Bones interrupted and Sirius nodded.

"That too. Then they cannot possible keep shunning said werewolves as they do now. And if one werewolf is recognized for what he's done, the other werewolves will come to realise that they too can make a life for themselves and wizards will start to become more open to werewolves once they realise that the hero of the Wizarding world, whom they will probably all want to see, even if it is just to glance at the presumable monster…is Remus. Children will recognize their favourite ever teacher for Defence. Parents will remember the stories told to them about this fantastic teacher and others will remember the kind and quiet boy they went to Hogwarts with. And they will start thinking about how it is unfair that such a hero and likeable guy is a werewolf and how it is not at all how they always thought werewolves to be. And most likely many will change their views over werewolves in general as time passes when they learn that most of the werewolves are in fact not at all the monsters society thinks them to be. After all…Remus Lupin cannot be the only exception to the scary creatures…right? And he's absolutely, undeniably human so, what are the others like if one of them is so innocent and likable."

Harry stared at his godfather in thought as he understood what he meant. By letting Remus take the credit of killing Voldemort he might actually get a chance at a normal life. A life without having to hide and be ashamed of who and what he was. It was a direct and probably quick solution for making Remus' life happier and in the long run it would change the lives of many other werewolves who were, like Remus, only wishing for a peaceful existence.

"That's brilliant," He exclaimed and Sirius smiled while Remus growled.

"I cannot let you do this, Sirius. I didn't fight him, you did. You took all the risks and took out all those Death Eaters. I cannot take the credit for your actions."

Sirius turned to Remus and looked him into his eyes. "You were the one who protected Harry the moment we arrived and I couldn't. You protected us with danger to your own life from the only thing that could have truly threatened us. You did that. And then you protected Harry, despite your own desires to fight. You protected him because you knew I wanted you to do so or you would have been there right at my side. But you didn't because you knew there was something more important than fighting on the line. The life of our own kid and you stood on the defence to protect him. And by using the Killing Curse on the Darkest Lord to have ever existed you are now being given the chance to make a difference. Not only for yourself but also for every other good willing werewolf out there. You can make a change for all those desperate and hopeless souls out there now. For any supposedly creature out there that is hoping and dreaming of a better future one day. Will you really let this chance, this thing you've dreamed of since you were bitten slide over the stupid credits of who took the shot?"

Remus bit his lip as he stared into Sirius' grey eyes for several moments before he took a deep breath and slowly nodded his consent. And though Harry knew that he still wasn't happy about taking the credit from Sirius, he knew that Sirius was right. They all knew.

"Good. So where were we?" Sirius said with a bright smile as he turned back to Amelia Bones, who as Harry noted, was sitting patiently and staring at her nails while Sirius and Remus had their argument.

"You just revealed to me that it was Remus Lupin who took down You-Know-Who." She said calmly and Harry felt his respect for the woman rise tremendously upon realizing she was ignoring the fact that Remus had ever spoken up against Sirius' words. The fact that she knew the truth and was going along with their story not only spoke about her character but also spoke volumes about how she thought about werewolves and other creatures.

" Shall we go down to the holding cells to await his arrival so I can verify your story, presuming that you do not wish to let me use Veritaserum or a Pensieve?"

"Veritaserum doesn´t work properly on werewolves unfortunately. I could show you the memory but that would defeat my purposes if it ever got misplaced nor do we have the time before the body will arrive. So for now you will have to believe us on our word and the evidence we presented before you, Madam Bones." Sirius said with a smile and even Remus let out a snort now at his clever set-up.

"An easy feat Lord Black, though I would like to see the memory personally some day. For now, shall we go verify your story? And please call me Amelia."

"Then you can call me Sirius." He officially shook her hand and handed her the jar.

"It might be wiser to let them out inside the charmed holding cells too. Their wands have been separated from them but I don't know if any of them possesses wandless magical skills."

"A smart move. Do you have their wands?" Amelia swallowed as Sirius placed a large bundle of wands on her desk. Harry noted there must be over thirty wands in there and felt a surge of respect for the power the two men beside him possessed for not only having taken out Voldemort himself but also at least a couple of dozen of his followers with just the two of them.

"How did you run into this…bunch if I may ask?"

"A very unfortunately timed Apparition." Sirius answered and Harry let out a chuckle this time. That was one way to put it.

"Where did you run into them?"

"A small town in Norfolk where we wanted to check out a house. We can give you the exact location later as I gave our address list to our House elf to have him check the rest of the locations for safety reasons. We wouldn't want a repeat of today after all." Sirius answered as they entered the elevator. Harry restrained himself from glancing at Sirius, knowing both he and Remus still held a copy of that list. But he understood why his godfather would want to keep that specific list secret with the paper's special abilities. He suspected that they would rewrite the list for her on normal parchment before sending it over.

"Although I understand your sentiments I must say that if your story checks out I am rather thankful that you did have that untimely Apparition. It saved my Department from a lot of trouble. I would like to have the exact location to be send to me as soon as possible though, to verify the location and the spells used there."

She turned to Sirius fully. "Seeing your unconcerned presence here I assume you are already aware of your reinstatement and declared freedom?"

"I was, thank you for catching that traitor."

"You are more than welcome. Were you also aware that the Ministry asked you to stop by to speak about your reinstatement?"

"Yes, but seeing as that I waited fourteen years for the Ministry to listen to me, I figured they could wait a few more days while my godson had his school vacation so that we could spend some quality time as a family."

"That is indeed only reasonable." Amelia nodded with a glance towards Harry and Remus. "I was going to send an owl out after the Christmas holidays had ended. My niece Susan assured me that if I send hers that it would be able to find you, unlike the owls the Ministry send out in an attempt to track you."

"Susan was right. We ensured that Susan's owl would be able to pass through our wards while…visiting Hogwarts." Remus answered.

They exited the elevator and walked to the holding cells. A slight shift in Sirius' movements, one that most wouldn't have even noticed, caught Harry's attention and with a glance to the holding cells looming up before them he understood the tiny faltering in his godfather's step upon seeing them.

He held in his own step on purpose so that Sirius almost walked into him and was forced to place a hand onto his shoulder to keep himself for doing so.

Taking the opportunity to take a hold of Sirius' arm, Harry manoeuvred himself so that he walked besides him. To anyone looking it would seem like Harry was nervous about entering the holding cells and though it was a slight blow to his ego, he would happily make that small sacrifice if it meant giving Sirius a slight comfort.

Sirius' other hand squeezed his shoulder and Harry smiled up to Sirius as he knew the man had understood the real reason behind his action and appreciated it.

"When would he be arriving?" Amelia asked right before several screams were heard and the sound of running feet.

"I think he just did." Remus commented dryly while Sirius wrapped a full arm around Harry and pulled him off to the side mere moments before several Aurors came running down the hall past them.

"He…He….here…Madam…." One of them wheezed before realizing who was with Amelia and he quickly backed off before promptly running off with the others.

"When did the Aurors become such a bunch of cowards?" Sirius asked with a raised eyebrow and surprised disgust on his face.

"Not everyone can be like Moody and your cousin, Sirius." Remus commented.

"Sirius! You-Know-Who is here. He's dead!" They all turned around to see Tonks quickly walking up to them. Though she was pale, she wasn't running away like the others had been.

"Why are you telling me this?" Sirius asked confused.

"Because I know that you were the one responsible for his arrival." Tonks said with a glare that made Harry chuckle.

"Wotcher Harry."

"Hi Tonks. Why do you think Sirius is the one who did this?"

Remus groaned at their words. "You two shouldn't greet each other like that in public. Especially not you Tonks." He berated them all.

"Why not Remus?" Tonks asked confused.

"Because you aren't supposed to know Harry or me well enough to be on first name basis with us and you shouldn't be so comfortable around Sirius, who you especially couldn't possibly be close to since he only got freed today and you are an Auror."

Tonks, Sirius and Harry all blinked before glancing at each other in alarm and then turning to Amelia.

"Whoops?" Tonks and Sirius said at the same time, making Remus groan again and Harry snicker.

"Madam Bones…I…." Tonks looked at her nervously.

"I'm sorry Auror Tonks; I didn't quite catch what it was what you said. Could you repeat what you said about You-Know-Who?" Amelia asked calmly and Harry marvelled at the ease with which she basically held a hand above her Aurors actions, which should be against the laws that she stood for. But yet, even thought he had gotten the impression of a stern and law following woman, she surprised him by not only letting Sirius tell her a half truth and accepting it despite knowing the truth, but she was now also giving Tonks a way out, denying she had heard one of her Aurors greet a man, who only a day earlier had been one of the most wanted criminals in the country, like a good friend. Which would indicate they were in close contact and thus Tonks could have been arrested for not reporting Sirius' whereabouts and their communication to her boss. And yet she let it all slide for some reason. Harry couldn't understand why she did so but Sirius didn't seem overly concerned about her motives so Harry decided he'd just see where it would go.

"I…ah…I said that You-Know-Who appeared in the holding cell down the hall, he appears to be dead. There…was a note attached to him." Tonks stammered for a moment before seemingly getting a hold of herself and standing straight before the presence of her boss.

"What did it say?"

"Delivery to Amelia Bones, have fun with the vile thing. Kind regards, The Marauders." Tonks said as she passed the note to Amelia, who took it and glanced at it.

"Are you positive it is him?" She asked and Tonks nodded.

"As reliable as identification spells are. The results came back as Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as You-Know-Who." Tonks handed over another slip of paper, presumably with the results of the spells she had mentioned and Amelia looked at it.

"And he is dead?"

"Absolutely. It looks like a giant walked over him and then a troll smashed up his remains." Tonks said and Amelia shot a quick glance at Sirius, who listened to his cousin's words interested and radiated the picture of innocence.

"Alright, let's see for ourselves." Amelia uttered before she walked to the holding cell where Kingsley was standing guard and Harry swallowed a greeting before he'd get Kingsley into trouble. He didn't know how much Amelia would let slide after all.

"Madam Bones." Kingsley greeted before he glanced at the rest.

"Lord Black, Mr. Potter, Remus." He greeted formally in his deep voice.

"Good afternoon." They chorused. Amelia gave them a quick glance and Harry had the impression she was aware of their true familiarity but she didn't speak up as she stepped into the holding cell.

"Amazing." Amelia breathed out as her gaze fell upon the corpse lying before her.

She handed the jar she was still holding to Kingsley, who took it with confusion, before casting her own diagnostic spells upon the body and nodded when the results confirmed what Tonks had said.

"Madam Bones, what am I holding?" Kingsley asked as he had seen what was in the jar.

"A jar filled with transfigured Death Eaters and other sympathizers of the Dark Lord that these gentlemen beside me brought in with them."

"That….such as?" Kingsley's voice was just a pitch higher than normal as he stared at the jar in shock.

"Erm...Jugson and Greyback. I have to admit my memory is a bit rusty on the identities of those around. I was more focused on other things. Oh, I did recognize Lucius Malfoy and I am sure I recognised at least two dozen more from seeing them around my relatives...social gatherings, though I cannot remember their names right now...did either of your recognise anyone else" Sirius asked as he turned to Harry and Remus.

"I'm positive that I recognized Nott, indeed Malfoy, The Carrow brothers, Rowle, Yaxley, Crabbe and Goyle but that should be easily confirmed once you take the spell off the jar and return them to their original forms." Remus answered while Harry shook his head. He hadn't exactly seen anyone before Sirius had taken care of Greyback and after that he'd been to occupied with trying to follow Sirius' movements to pay attention to his surroundings.

"Seems like the git had a day off though, I would have loved to have seen him as a cockroach." Sirius commented.

"Maybe he finally took a moment to wash his hair?" Harry commented, making Sirius, Remus and Tonks laugh while Amelia looked at them interested and Kingsley suppressed a smile but mostly failed in doing so. Besides Amelia they all knew immediately who they were talking about.

"What git?" Amelia asked.

"You would have to ask Dumbledore for information about his pet Death Eater. He is the one who claims he's a good guy after all." Sirius said.

"You caught all those Death Eaters and You-Know-Who, with just the three of you?" Tonks asked surprised as she looked at them in shock, clearly not having expected that of them.

"Never piss of a Marauder." Harry said.

"Noted." Tonks said with an amazed but bemused smile.

"Remus did the hard work; we just dealt with the small fry."

"I hardly call Greyback small fry Siri." Remus muttered.

"Alright, big ugly fry then."

Sirius turned to Amelia. "Now that we have delivered our trash and given our statement, could we leave the rest to your Aurors? We really have more to do today than to hang around here."

"There is a reward on the heads of most of the ones you just mentioned being in that jar."

"Deposit it all into the vaults of Remus here."

"Siri…"

"Shush Rem. You will just have to treat us for dinner some time."

"I will make sure it happens. Thank you mister Lupin for the great service you have performed to us today. I shall send you an owl to go over the details of your reward soon." Before she turned to Sirius. "Lord Black, the Ministry owes you an enormous apology for the crimes committed to you and I promise you I will make sure all those involved will be facing charges, including the Minister for failing to take action. A compensation for the time you've been unrightfully accused and held prisoner will be deposited into your vaults. This included the time you've been on the run because even though you were technically not in our hands anymore, the ministry still hunted you down even if Kingsley never managed to …catch you." Amelia said with a glance at Kingsley who shrugged slightly.

"He kept eluding us with fake trails, Madam."

"He sure is clever enough to elude my best Aurors like that." Amelia answered with a small smile that made Harry bit his lip as he realised she indeed knew the truth but didn't call them upon it. She turned to Sirius again.

"We have already begun to undo the damage that your reputation has gone through by our faults even though it will probably take some time."

She took a deep breath. "If there is anything we can do for you then I will do everything within my power to make it happen."

Sirius looked at her. "There is one thing…" He trailed off.

"Name it."

"I want official custody of my godson. The one that means no one can ever try to interfere and take him from me again."

"If you walk with me we can fill those out immediately."

"I'd rather have you send them over to me; there is a certain eager woman who'd skin me alive if I signed anything without giving her the privilege of being witness."

"Consider it done. I shall have the papers send to you before the day is over." Amelia said with a pleased nod. "Anything else?"

"Yes…please make sure the story we told you comes out the way it should."

"I already plan to and I shall add to it that Lord Black informed me that after his wrongful imprisonment the only desires he wished from us were the custody of his godson and the promise of the …truth being revealed concerning the death of You-Know-Who and the credit given to the one who deserves it."

"Thank you." Sirius said with a smile as he turned to Harry and Remus.

"You two have any wishes?"

"A hot bath."

"Something to eat and sit down on." Remus and Harry answered at the same time.

"Let's go find our rest stop for tonight then, shall we?" Sirius said cheerfully and the other two nodded to him.

"Will you two join Mister Lupin when he is summoned to continue this conversation?"

"Of course." Sirius and Harry nodded.

"Then I shall see you soon."

They easily said goodbye and left the three Ministry workers to deal with the mess they left behind as they walked back to the entrance calmly, ignoring the many stares and whispers that followed them.

"Where did you want to go?" Harry asked once they found a secluded area away from prying eyes.

"Why don't you pick a location? I picked one yesterday and Remus the day before that."

"We shouldn't go too far if an owl is to be send out to us today. So how about we crash in my old house for the night and let you decide a location tomorrow?" Remus suggested.

"Fine by me." Harry agreed before letting Remus Apparate them to their new location.

"A cottage?" He asked as they arrived and his eyes fell upon the small building a few meters away.

"It is not much and the landlady isn't very happy with me being here but I've always loved it." Remus said with a small smile.

"I love it too." Harry smiled back. "It is nice and quiet and looks homey to me. Who cares that it isn't a Manor as long as it's home."

Sirius glanced at the two of them before looking at the cottage and then around him.

"Say…this is pretty far from prying eyes isn't it?"

"Yes." Remus answered. "The closest neighbour is three hours away."

"And we are pretty handy with our magic…aren't we?" Sirius asked.

"Yes…" Remus trailed off questioningly.

"Then why don't we buy this cottage you are renting along with a few miles for a Quidditch pitch and just extent this cottage to what we'd want if all three of us love this place?"

Both stared at him for a long moment before Remus blinked and looked around.

"That is actually not a bad idea. What do you think Harry?"

Harry looked from the cottage and the surrounding land to Sirius and Remus. "Where are we anyway?"

"South Yorkshire." Remus answered.

"South Yorkshire?" Sirius asked confused as he turned to Remus again.

"Yes…you didn't know?" Remus asked with amusement and a hint of surprise.

"No, I thought you lived in Durham."

"My parents lived there. After Hogwarts I lived with you and after your imprisonment I moved here as I didn't want to stay in the apartment. How on earth did you find me last year if you didn't know where I lived? Didn't Dumbledore tell you?" Remus asked incredulous.

"Dumbledore never mentioned where you live, he just told me to lay low at your place so once I left I followed your magical signature and eventually your scent till I had found you."

"You followed his magical signature and scent?" Harry asked confused.

"Yes, as Padfoot I can sense people's magical signature and if familiar enough with it I can follow it across the entire world if truly needed. James and I often experimented with it. He'd leave me in some town and then travel elsewhere by Apparition and I had to locate him. It sometimes took a while but I always found him by simply following his magical signature and once close enough to pick up his scent I followed that."

"That's amazing!" Harry exclaimed and Sirius frowned.

"How else did you think I found you at the Dursley's before meeting you properly?" He asked.

"I don't know, having asked directions?"

"As a fugitive?"

"Forgot about that. But how did you know my magical signature or my scent after twelve years?"

Sirius snorted. "Like I'd ever forget either of your scents or the feel of your magical signatures no matter how much time passes. I admit that it took me a few days to get a good feel for your signature since it was hidden behind crappy wards half of the time, but I managed and set off to catch a glimpse of you. I didn't know where you lived as it was a secret and though I heard talks of wizards about the Boy Who Lived, your residence was never mentioned and I had to rely on Padfoot's skill to find you."

"That's just amazing. To be able to pick up our magical signature after so much time and finding us like that. Are all Animagi able to do that?" Harry asked, feeling awed at his godfather's ability to locate him and Remus like that, despite having lived in hell for so long. And it cemented for him once more just how much Sirius cared for the two of them.

"As far as our research discovered it is mostly cats and dogs that have that instinct. Some birds can find their way like that too, but we never found out how that worked. Neither Prongs or Wormtail ever had the ability to find Sirius like that." Remus answered.

Harry nodded. "If you managed to find me and Remus through our magical signature, then why couldn't you find Pettigrew like that?"

"I'm not sure. I tried after escaping but I couldn't pick up his magical signature at all, I managed to confirm he had stayed at your dorm while the Gryffindors had their Halloween meal and tried to reach him then but failed and Ron woke up before I could stab him some time later. But after he faked his own death I couldn't locate him anymore besides the fact that he was still near Hogwarts. Of course I didn't count on the fact that he'd be smart enough to hide at Hagrid's Hut."

"Why smart enough?"

"Because there are so many different smells in and around that house that I couldn't distinguish one from the other and wouldn't have ever found him there." Sirius said with disgust in his voice.

Harry nodded, realizing that even canines had a limit of how much they could distinguish smells, even if Padfoot was a magical one. He looked at his surroundings again, knowing he needed to change the subject if he didn't want Sirius to become truly upset.

"So…South Yorkshire….That is pretty far from London and Devon right?"

"On the other side of the country actually." Remus answered with a small amused smile at the clear change of subject and even Sirius chuckled.

"Then I am all for your plan." Harry said happily while trying to suppress a small blush, to the amusement of the other two.

"Presuming that we will be able to actually buy the cottage from the old hag that owns it." Remus said, going along with the change of subject.

"Is she a Muggle or a witch?" Sirius asked.

"A witch. Why?"

"No specific reason, I'll go have a chat with her tomorrow or would you prefer to close this deal before the news comes out about Voldi and she'll become difficult?"

"I would prefer now, but don't you dare put it on my name Sirius." Remus threatened but Sirius only smiled.

"I have an idea for that, why don't you pass me her address then the two of you head inside, take a shower or bath and start on something to eat and I'll deal with the landlady and be back in a hour or so."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Harry asked as Remus wrote down the landlady's address for Sirius, not completely comfortable with Sirius going off on his own so soon after having been attacked by Death Eaters.

Sirius hesitated visibly for a moment before he nodded. "If you want to you can come along. It will be pretty boring though."

"I don't care, you will be fine here right Remus?"

"Of course. I'll key Harry into the wards so that you can Apparate directly to the front step upon returning."

"That would be nice thanks. See you in a bit." With that Sirius Apparated him and Harry away.

"You know… I don't think I will ever truly get used to Apparition." Harry complained as he and Sirius appeared in a small town.

"Don't worry, once you've learned how to do it on your own it will be much better."

"And when will that be?"

"When you turn seventeen you can take the exam."

"That is two more years. I really have to Side-Along Apparate with you guys like that for two more years?"

"I said you can take the exam in two years, I didn't say you wouldn't learn it before then." Sirius said with a wink.

Harry chuckled. "Say…you said that you wanted to teach me how to fight…but are you still going to do that now that Voldemort is gone?"

"Of course. Just because the snake is gone doesn't mean there aren't going to be other threats. I sincerely doubt that the Aurors will catch all the small fry soon. And even if they did, I still want you to learn how to defend yourself in case of an emergency."

Harry nodded happy to know he wasn't going to be kept in the dark now that everything was presumable in peace again.

"I guess you were right by the way."

"About what pup?"

"About Divination being worthless. According to the Prophecy I was supposed to be the one who defeated Voldemort. But I didn't do anything. You finished him off…sorry, Remus did." He corrected himself as Sirius came to a hold and stared at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Well, you were the one who told me to step forward, so in a way you are the one responsible for his demise since I didn't know what I'd done till I stepped on him."

"But then what was the power that he knows not?"

"The power of a shoe and a quick mind?" Sirius suggested with a chuckle as he presumed walking.

Harry shook his head fondly as he laughed and quickened his pace to catch up with Sirius again.

"Truthfully, I don't know Harry. I've never believed in Divination in the first place so I truly am the wrong person to ask why the prophecy involving you didn't come to pass but honestly, I can't say that I truly care. I said before that I'd be damned to let you do the fighting and don't be offended but you are fifteen years old and you have already had too little of a childhood as it is. What I want from you most of all is to be a child and have fun. You shouldn't have had to worry about all this stuff and I cannot change the fact that you had to, but I can make sure you don't have to from now on."

"You do realise I am going to worry anyway, right?"

"I know, but a godfather can hope can't he?" Sirius said with a smile before he came to a stop before a large house and rang the bell before Harry could answer.

"Yes?" An older woman with grey hair and cold blue eyes opened. Sirius looked at her shocked for a moment before his expression settled in a pleasant, but to Harry's idea, fake smile.

"We were informed that you are the landlady of a several properties, including a small run down cottage in Yorkshire in the middle of nowhere. Is this information correct?"

"Yes, why do you wish to know?"

"I'm looking around for some real estate to buy and was interested to see what the costs for the cottage would be."

"More than you can afford lad." The woman said sneeringly with a glance at Sirius' and Harry's Muggle outfits.

"I merely asked for a price Miss Montgomery. There is no need to become hostile or point your wand at my kid from behind your door. I don't take kindly to threats to him and I can assure you I will retaliate at the slightest attempt."

Upon his words the woman, Montgomery blinked and looked at Sirius more clearly before bringing her wand into sight and changing its aim from Harry to Sirius.

"Who are you?"

"How about I tell you that once you tell me a price for the cottage?"

"I give you that you are relentless. But the cottage is not for sale cheap. There is a patch of land belonging to it that is not at all cheap and you will have to kick the current renter out yourself."

"You wish to sell me the land where the cottage is placed upon?" Sirius asked and his voice changed from forced pleasant to stone cold in mere seconds. Harry glanced at Sirius confused but refused to let his emotions be seen on his face like Sirius had taught him. Why was Sirius becoming mad about that, they wanted the land didn't they?

"Yes. It will be seven thousand galleons for the land and the cottage." Montgomery said with a defined look.

"So you are really sure you want to sell me the land on which the cottage is placed?" Sirius repeated without a single emotion in his voice.

"Yes."

"Absolutely sure?"

"Yes, I do not sell it separately."

"Then so it will be. I shall be taking the documents for the cottage from your hands as you have forsaken your rights to it." Sirius said as he stood up straight and stared Montgomery down.

"What?"

"My name is Lord Black; I am the rightful owner of that patch of land. My family extended to you the rights to build upon the land and let you use it for a small rental price. The terms of your contract clearly stated that under no terms you were allowed to sell the land you rented from the Black family and that if you did all your rights to the land and any properties you had build upon them would be claimed by the Black family. I asked you three times if you wanted to sell me the land, you said yes, thus breaking the contract. I shall be taking those papers now Miss Montgomery." Sirius said with an expression on his face that Harry could only describe as aristocratic.

Montgomery stared at him flabbergasted for a few moments before she sneered. "Fine, but you get to kick off the filthy half-breed that I was forced to rent out to because your own contract stated that I wasn't allowed to refuse any appliers who had no criminal record."

"And with that you broke the second half of the contract." Sirius said with a smirk.

"What second part?"

"The part where you were forbidden from being prejudiced or unfairness against the tenants. You see, I wrote that contract myself and I specifically stated that the landlords were not allowed to be prejudiced or unfair against any of their tenants. I am sure the papers will show that you have unrightfully raised the rent repeatedly after your current tenant came to live there while other residents paid a much lower rent. That makes it an unfair action and means that you have to pay back all the rent he has ever paid you for the Black family would not stand for dishonourable behaviour like that."

"You can't do that!"

"You signed the contract and now you have broken it. I shall inform your tenants of the change of landlord once I have found a proper and reliable one."

Sirius held out his hand and a bundle of documents appeared in his hands. He skimmed through them for a moment before taking out a contract.

"It is all in the fine print. So thank you for your co-operation and I hope I shall never see you again." Sirius said as he put his hand on Harry's back to turn him around and led him off the steps while the woman still stared at them in shock.

"Oh, before I forget… Obliviate." Sirius turned on the spot and raised his wand at the woman.

"You won't remember the contract you signed with my family nor will you remember any of your tenants as is also stated in the contract. Good day."

Harry let Sirius push him on till they were out of sight of the house and then turned to Sirius.

"You already owned the land? Why didn't you just tell Remus that?"

"Because I didn't know. It wasn't till I saw the old hag that I suddenly remembered signing a contract with her. My uncle Alphard had left me with quite a bit of money and several patches of land upon his death. I rented several of them out to various people, both to make money out of them and to give people like Remus a chance to start a life for themselves. Remus never complains but he did mention now and then that his rent kept rising, not that he could do much about it without losing his living space. That's when I knew I could break her out of the contract and just claim the cottage."

"What are we going to tell Remus?"

"The truth. I don't want secrets, especially not between friends and family."

Harry nodded, knowing just how much Sirius had lost due to secrecy.

"So…how are you going to keep your promise to not put the cottage on Remus' name?" Harry asked with a tease and Sirius snorted before he stopped walking.

"Hold this will you?" Giving the bundle of documents to Harry and taking out two pieces of paper that he quickly and magically filled out before tapping one of the two with his wand twice before it disappeared.

"What did you just do?"

"Signed a contract in Remus' name to buy the house we are going to live in."

'But you promised you wouldn't."

"I used Moony's name."

"You…" Harry snorted. "You know he is not going to be happy with you right?"

"He will get over it." Sirius said with a wink. "He loves that cottage so it should be his even if we will live in it with the three of us for who knows how long it will take you to get tired of us and get your own place and for him to kick me out."

"That will never happen."

"Then we can become three very old men living together while herding sheep."

"Why sheep?" Harry asked curious.

"Because we already have a wolf and a dog to herd them with."

They stared at each other for a moment before they both burst out in laughter.

"That's lame even for you Siri."

"I know, now let's go home and tell Remus the good news so that we can start planning on remodelling our house shall we?"

Harry grinned and held out his hand for his godfather to Apparate them back to the cottage, but instead of taking it Sirius let out a muttered curse that made Harry frown. But before he could ask him what was wrong his godfather spoke up.

"Hey pup, remind me to pick up something nice for Dobby will you?"

"Why?"

"Because I asked him to check the rest of our list for safety precautions. Knowing him he probably put a lot of time and effort into checking them and now we aren't even going to look at them anymore."

"So you want to give him something nice as an apology?" Harry asked, happy that his godfather was so fond of the little House Elf. And agreed to his reasoning, having completely forgotten Sirius had asked that of their friend.

"And as a thank you. He's already got tons of socks, so maybe some material to make himself a coat? He refused to let me buy one for him so maybe he'll accept the material to make one himself?"

"If he doesn't then you are probably sneaky enough to trick him into accepting it anyway."

"I wouldn't force it upon him. I could simply give it to him as an extra belated Christmas present. Buy you and Remus something small too to cover the real intent up. Oh, I could make it new year's presents or maybe welcome to our new home present."

"I'm sure you'll think of something Siri. Can we go home now, I'm starting to get hungry." Harry said with a chuckle at Sirius' idea's.

Sirius smiled as he ruffled his hair and held out his hand once more, which Harry gladly took.

"Let's go home."


End file.
